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HISTORY 



OF 



FKEDERICK THE GREAT. 




FREDERICK THE GREAT. ^T. 73. 



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HISTORY 



OF 



FREDERICK THE SECOND, 



CALLED 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



A 



By JOHN S. C. "ABBOTT, 



AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE," "THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,' 1 
"NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA," ETC. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 




NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
I 87 I. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 187 1, by 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



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PREFACE. 



It is not surprising that many persons, not familiar with the wild and 
wondrous events of the past, should judge that many of the honest nar- 
ratives of history must be fictions — mere romances. But it is difficult 
for the imagination to invent scenes more wonderful than can be found 
in the annals of by-gone days. The novelist who should create such a 
character as that of Frederick William, or such a career as that of Fred- 
erick the Great, would be deemed guilty of great exaggeration, and yet 
the facts contained in this volume are beyond all contradiction. 

Mr. Carlyle has written the Life of Frederick the Great in six closely 
printed volumes of over five hundred pages each. It is a work of much 
ability and accuracy. There are, however, but few persons, in this busy 
age, who can find time to read three thousand pages of fine type, descrip- 
tive of events, many of which have lost their interest, and have ceased to 
possess any practical value. Still, the student who has leisure to peruse 
these voluminous annals of all the prominent actors in Europe during 
the reign of Frederick and of his half-insane father, will find a rich treat 
in the wonderfully graphic and accurate pages of Carlyle. 

This volume is intended to give a clear and correct idea of the man — 
of his public and private character, and of his career. It would be diffi- 
cult to find, in the whole range of English literature, a theme more full of 
the elements of entertainment and instruction. 

The reader of these pages will be oppressed with the consciousness of 
how vast a proportion of the miseries of humanity is caused by the cruelty 
of man to his brother man. This globe might be a very happy home for 
those who dwell upon it. But its history, during the last six thousand 
years, has presented one of the most appalling tragedies of which the 
imagination can conceive. Among all the renowned warriors of the 
past, but few can be found who have contributed more to fill the world 
with desolated homes, with the moans of the dying, with the cry o£ the 
widow and the orphan, than Frederick the Great; but he laid the foun- 
dations of an empire which is at this moment the most potent upon the 
2:lobe. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PARENTAGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Origin of the Prussian Monarchy. — The Duchies of Brandenburg and Prussia. — The Elector 
crowned King Frederick I. — Frederick William. — His Childhood, Youth, and Marriage. — 
Birth of Fritz. — Death of Frederick I. — Eccentric Character of Frederick William. — His 
defective Education. — His Energy. — Curious Anecdotes. — Hatred of the French. — Educa- 
tion of Fritz. — The Father's Plan of Instruction Page 17 

CHAPTER II. 

LIFE IN THE PALACE. 

The Palace of Wusterhausen. — Wilhelmina and Fritz. — Education of the Crown Prince. — 
Rising Dislike of the Father for his Son. — The Mother's Sympathy. — The double Marriage. — 
Character of George I. — The King of England visits Berlin. — Wilhelmina's Account of the 
Interview. — Sad Fate of the Wife of George I. — The Giant Guard. — Despotism of Frederick 
William. — The Tobacco Parliament. — A brutal Scene. — Death of George I. — The Royal 
Family of Prussia. — Augustus, King of Poland. — Corruption of his Court. — Cruel Treatment 
of Fritz. — Insane Conduct of the King...> 36 

CHAPTER III. 

THE SUFFERINGS OF FRITZ AND WILHELMINA. 

The King an Artist. — Cruel Exactions of the King. — Conflicts of Etiquette. — Quarrel with 
George II. — Nuptial Intrigues. — Energetic Action of Frederick William. — Marriage of Fred- 
erica Louisa. — Fritz and his Flute. — Wrath of the King. — Beats Wimelmina and Fritz. — 
Attempts to strangle Fritz. — The Hunt at Wusterhausen. — Intrigues in reference to the 
Double Marriage. — Anguish of Wilhelmina. — Cruelty of her Mother. — Resolve of Fritz to 
escape to England .... „ 58 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE. 

Objections to the British -Alliance. — Obstinacy of the King. — Wilhelmina's Journal. — Policy 
of Frederick William and of George II.— Letter from Fritz.— The Camp of Miihlberg.— The 
Plan of Escape. — The Flight arrested. — Ungovernable Rage of the King. — Endeavors to kill 
his Son. — Arrest and Imprisonment of Fritz. — Terror of his Mother and Sister. — Wilhelmina 
imprisoned i 80 

CHAPTER V. 

IMPRISONMENT OF FRITZ AND WILHELMINA. 

Spirited Conduct of Fritz. — Fortress of Custrin.— Prison Fare. — Wilhelmina's Captivity. — Sad 
Fate of Doris Ritter. — Motives of the King. — Doom of Lieutenant Katte. — Pathetic Sup- 
plications. — The Execution. — Peril of Fritz. — Theology of the King. — Letter from Fritz. — 
Sufferings of Wilhelmina. — Brutality of the King. — Wilhelmina brought to Terms 100 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE MARRIAGE OF WILHELMINA. 

Wilhelmina's Letter to her Mother. — Cruel Response. — The Court Festival. — First Interview 
with the Prince of Baireuth. — His Character and Appearance. — Interview between the King 



X CONTENTS. 

and Fritz. — The Partial Reconciliation. — Divine Decrees. — The King's Sense of Justice. — 
The King's Discipline of the Judges. — Character of Fritz. — Wilhelmina's Annoyances. — Her 
Marriage. — Interview between Wilhelmina and Fritz. — The Departure Page 118 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE MARRIAGE OF THE CROWN PRINCE. 

Matrimonial Intrigues. — Letters from the King to his Son. — Letter from Fritz to Grumkow. — 
Letter to Wilhelmina. — The Betrothal. — Character of Elizabeth. — Her cruel Reception by 
the Prussian Queen. — Letter from Fritz to Wilhelmina. — Disappointment and Anguish of 
Elizabeth. — Studious Habits of Fritz. — Continued Alienation of his Father. — The Marriage. 
— Life in the Castle at Reinsberg 136 

CHAPTER VIII. 

DEVELOPMENTS OF CHARACTER. 

The Castle at Reinsberg. — Slender Purses of Fritz and Wilhelmina. — Liberality of Fritz. — The 
Ball at Monbijou. — Adventures of Fritz and Wilhelmina. — Letters. — The Interview. — Anec- 
dote of the King. — Wilhelmina's Account of Jier Brother. — Mental and Physical Maladies 
of the King. — Frederick's cruel Neglect of his Wife. — Daily Habits of the young Prince. — 
The shameful Carousal 152 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE DEATH OF FREDERICK WILLIAM. 

Voltaire and Madame Du Chatelet. — Letter from Frederick to Voltaire. — The Reply. — Visit 
to the Prince of Orange. — Correspondence. — The Crown Prince becomes a Mason. — Inter- 
esting Letter from the Crown Prince. — Petulance and declining Health of the King. — Scenes 
in the Death-chamber. — Characteristic Anecdotes. — The Dying Scene 172 

CHAPTER X. 

THE ACCESSION OF FREDERICK THE SECOND. 

Establishment of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. — Religious Toleration. — A Free Press. — 
Sternness of the young King. — Domestic Habits of the King. — Provision for the Queen-moth- 
er. — Absolutism of the King. — Journey to Strasbourg. — First Interview with Voltaire. . . 191 

CHAPTER XL 

DIPLOMATIC INTRIGUES. 

The Herstal Affair. — The Summons. — Voltaire's Manifesto. — George II. visits Hanover. — The 
Visit of Wilhelmina to Berlin. — Unpopularity of the King. — Death of the Emperor Charles 
VI 206 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE INVASION OF SILESIA. 

Deceptive Measures of Frederick. — Plans for the Invasion of Silesia. — Avowed Reasons for the 
Invasion.— The Ball in Berlin.— The March of the Army.— Hardships and Successes.— Let- 
ter to Voltaire.— Capture of Glogau.— Capture of Brieg.— Bombardment of Neisse 218 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CAMPAIGN OF MOLLWITZ. 

Embarrassments of Frederick. — Attempts a Compromise. — New Invasion of Silesia. — Intrigues 
for the Imperial Crown.— Rivalry between England and France.— Death of Anne of Russia. 
— Energy of Austria. — Narrow Escape of Frederick. — Frederick's Antipathy to Christianity. 
— Capture of Glogau.— Peril of Frederick. — The Siege of Neisse 237 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF FREDERICK. 

Preparing for the Battle. — The Surprise. — The Snow-encumbered Plain. — Horror of the Scene. 



CONTENTS. xi 

— Flight of Frederick. — His Shame and Despair. — Unexpected Victory of the Prussians. — 
Letters of Frederick. — Adventures of Maupertuis Page 254: 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE WAR IN SILESIA. 

The Encampment at Brieg. — Bombardment. — Diplomatic Intrigues. — Luxury of the Spanish 
Minister. — Rising Greatness of Frederick. — Frederick's Interview with Lord Hyndford. — 
Plans of France. — Desperate Prospects of Maria Theresa. — Anecdote of Frederick. — Joint 
Action of England and Holland. — Heroic Character of Maria Theresa. — Coronation of the 
Queen of Hungary 265 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE CONQUEST OF SILESIA. 

An extraordinary Interview. — Carlyle's Sympathy. — Trifling Demeanor of Frederick. — Conspir- 
acy in Breslau. — Guile of Frederick. — The successful Stratagem. — Crossing the Neisse. — 
The Co-operation of France. — Anguish of Maria Theresa. — Inflexible Will of Frederick. — 
Duplicity of the King. — The Surrender of Neisse 275 

\ 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CAMPAIGN OF MORAVIA. 

Frederick's Motives for the War. — Marriage of William Augustus. — Testimony of Lord Ma- 
caulay. — Frederick and his Allies. — Visit to Dresden. — Military Energy. — Charles Albert 
chosen Emperor. — The Coronation. — Effeminacy of the Saxon Princes. — Disappointment 
and Vexation of Frederick. — He withdraws in Chagrin. — The Cantonment on the Elbe. — 
Winter Campaigning. — The Concentration at Chrudim 295 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

FREDERICK TRIUMPHANT. 

The Battle of Chotusitz. — Letter to Jordan. — Results of the Battle. — Secret Negotiations. — 
The Treaty of Breslau. — Entrance into Frankfort. — Treachery of Louis XV. — Results of the 
Silesian Campaigns. — Panegyrics of Voltaire. — Imperial Character of Maria Theresa. — Her 
Grief over the Loss of Silesia. — Anecdote of Senora Barbarina. — Duplicity of both Freder- 
ick and Voltaire. — Gayety in Berlin. — Straitened Circumstances. — Unamiability of Freder- 
ick 309 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE INVASION OF BOHEMIA. 

Correspondence between. Frederick and Voltaire. — Voltaire's Visit to Frederick. — Domestic 
Habits of the King. — Unavailing Diplomacy of Voltaire. — The New Alliance. — The Renewal 
of War. — The Siege of Prague. — The Advance upon Vienna. — Darkening Prospects. — The 
Pandours. — Divisions in Council. — Sickness of Louis XV. — Energy of Frederick. — Distress 
of the Army 326 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE RETREAT. 

The Retreat ordered. — Awful Suffering. — Narrow Escape of the King. — The Flight from 
Prague. — Military Mistakes of the King. — Frederick returns to Berlin. — His wonderful 
administrative Ability. — Poland joins Austria. — The Austrians enter Silesia. — Unreasona- 
ble Demands of Frederick. — Humiliation of the King. — Prince Charles and his Bride. — 
Character of Leopold. — Death of the Emperor. — Bavaria turns against Frederick. — Anec- 
dotes of Prince Leopold. — Peril of Frederick. — Battle of Hohenfriedberg. — Signal Victory 



x ij CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

BATTLES AND VICTORIES. 

Battle of Hohenfriedberg. — Religious Antagonism. — Anecdote of the King. — Retreat of the 
Austrians. — Horrors of War. — "A slight Pleasantry." — Sufferings of the Prussian Army. — 
The Victory of Fontenoy. — Frederick's Pecuniary Embarrassments. — Executive Abilities of 
Maria Theresa. — Inflexibility of the Austrian Queen. — The Retreat to Silesia. — The Surprise 
at Sohr. — Military Genius of Frederick. — Great Victory of Sohr Page 352 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE PEACE OF DRESDEN. 

Sufferings of the Peasantry. — Renown and Peril of Frederick. — New Plan of Maria Theresa. — 
Despondency of Frederick. — Surprise and Rout of the Austrians. — The "Old Dessauer" en- 
ters Saxony. — Battle of Kesseldorf. — Singular Prayer of the Old Dessauer. — Signal Victory 
of the Prussians. — Elation of Frederick. — The Peace of Dresden. — Death of M. Duhan . 364 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

FREDERICK THE GREAT AT SANS SOUCI. 

Days of Peace and Prosperity. — The Palace of Sans Souci. — Letter from Marshal Keith. — Do- 
mestic Habits of the King. — Frederick's Snuff-boxes. — Anecdotes. — Severe Discipline of the 
Army. — Testimony of Baron Trenck. — The Review. — Death of the "Divine Emilie." — The 
King's Revenge. — Anecdote of the Poor Schoolmaster. — The Berlin Carousal. — Appearance 
of his Majesty. — Honors conferred upon Voltaire , 375 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE QUARREL. 

Voltaire and the Jew. — Letter from Frederick to D'Arget. — Letter to Wilhelmina. — Caustic 
Letters to Voltaire. — Partial Reconciliation. — Frederick's brilliant Conversational Powers. — 
His Neglect of his Wife. — All Females excluded from his Court. — Maupertuis and the Acad- 
emy. — Voltaire's Malignity. — Frederick's Anger. — Correspondence between Voltaire and 
Maupertuis. — Menaces of War. — Catt and the King ..., 387 

CHAPTER XXV. 

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SEVEN TEARS' WAR. 

Secret Preparations for a Coalition. — Frederick's Embarrassments. — The uncertain Support of 
England. — Causes of the War. — Commencement of Hostilities. — Letter from Frederick to his 
Sister Amelia. — Letter to his Brother. — The Invasion of Saxony. — Misfortunes of the Royal 
Family of Poland. — Battle of Lobositz. — Energetic Military Movements. — Prisoners of War 
compelled to enlist in the Prussian Service. — Dispatches from Frederick. — Battle of Prague. 
— Battle of Kolin. — Retreat of Frederick. — Death of Sophia Dorothea 402 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

DEFEATS AND PERILS. 

Grief of the King over his Mother's Death.— Interesting Letters. —Forces in the Field.— The 
March upon Dresden.— Devotion of Wilhelmina.— Atheism of the King.— Wilhelmina to 
Voltaire.— Despair of Frederick.— Great Victory of Rossbach.— Description of the Battle.— 
Utter Rout of the Allies. —Elation of Frederick.— His Poem on the Occasion. —Ravages of 
War '. „ 4i8 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE LEUTHEN CAMPAIGN. 

Results of the Battle of Rossbach. — The Attack upon Breslau. — Extraordinary Address of the 
King to his Troops. — Confidence of the Prussians in their Commander. — Magnificent Array 
of the Austrians at Leuthen. — Tactics of Frederick. — The Battle Hymn. — The Battle and 
the Victory. — Scenes after the Battle. — Recapture of Breslau by Frederick 434 



[ Seci 

I E 



CONTENTS. xiii 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

DOMESTIC GRIEFS AND MILITARY REVERSES. 

Destruction of the Army of Prince Charles. — Dismay in Vienna. — Testimony of Napoleon I. — 
Of Voltaire. — Wretchedness of the King. — Compromise rejected. — New Preparations for 
War. — Treaty between England and Prussia.— Plan of the Campaign. — Siege of Olmiitz. — 
Death of Prince Augustus William.— The Baggage Train.— The irreparable Disaster.— Anx- 
iety of Frederick for Wilhelmina.— The March against the Russians.— The Battle of Zorn- 
dorf.— Anecdotes of Frederick Page 445 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE THIRD CAMPAIGN OF THE SEVEN TEARS' WAR. 

Frederick's Attempt to Rescue his Brother. — Captured Dispatches.— Battle of Hochkirch. — 
Defeat and Retreat of Frederick. —Death of Wilhelmina.— Letter to Voltaire.— Rejoicings at 
Vienna.— The Siege of Neisse.— The Siege of Dresden.— Conflagrations and Terror.— The 
Siege raised by Frederick.— Results of the Third Campaign.— Unavailing Efforts for Peace. 
— Despair of Frederick 463 

CHAPTER XXX. 

FOURTH CAMPAIGN OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 

Desperate Exertions of Frederick.— Aid from England.— Limited Resources.— Opening of the 
Campaign.— Disgraceful Conduct of Voltaire.— Letter to Voltaire.— An Act of Desperation. 
— Letter to Count Finckenstein. — Frankfort taken by the Prussians. — Terrible Battle of 
Kunersdorf. — Anguish of Frederick. — The Disastrous Retreat. — Melancholy Dispatch. — 
Contemplating Suicide. — Collecting the Wrecks of the Army. — Consternation in Berlin.— 
Letters to D'Argens. — Wonderful Strategical Skill. — Literary Efforts of the King 475 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 

Winter Encampment. — Death of Maupertuis. — Infamous Conduct of Voltaire. — Reproof by the 
King. — Voltaire's Insincerity. — Correspondence. — The King publishes his Poems. — Dishon- 
orable Conduct of the King. — New Encampment near Dresden. — Destruction of Frederick's 
Army in Silesia. — Atrocities perpetrated by the Austrians. — Astonishing March. — The Aus- 
trians outwitted. — Dresden bombarded and almost destroyed by Frederick. — Battle of Leig- 
nitz. — Utter Rout of the Austrians. — Undiminished Peril of Frederick. — Letter to D'Ar- 
gens 495 

CHAPTER XXXH. 

' THE END OF THE FIFTH CAMPAIGN. 

Incessant Marches and Battles. — Letter from Frederick to D'Argens. — Letter to his Brother 
Henry. — Berlin summoned to Surrender. — Sacking of the City. — Letter to D'Argens. — Des- 
perate Resolves of Frederick. — The Resort of Suicide. — Remarkable Address of Frederick 
to his Generals. — Bloody Battle of Torgau. — Dismal Night-scene. — Familiarity of the King 
with the Soldiers. — Winter Quarters at Freiberg. — Singular Letter to the Countess of Camas. 
— Death of the Princess Amelia. — Anecdotes of the King. — His domestic Habits. — His un- 
scrupulous Measures to obtain Men and Money. — Letter of Charlotte of Mecklenburg 507 

CHAPTER XXXin. 

THE END OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 

Commencement of the Sixth Campaign. — The Fortified Camp at Bunzelwitz. — Skillful En- 
gineering. — Uninterrupted Toil of the Soldiers. — Retreat of the Russians. — Loss of Schweid- 
nitz. — Peculiar Treatment of General Zastrow. — Close of the Sixth Campaign. — The King 
at Breslau. — Desponding Letter to D'Argens. — Death of Elizabeth of Russia. — Accession of 
Peter III. — His Marriage with the Daughter of a Prussian General. — Takes the Baptismal 
Name of Catharine. — Assassination of Peter III. — Curious Proclamation by the Empress. — 



xiv CONTENTS. 

Commencement of the Seventh Campaign. — Alliance of Russia with Prussia. — Withdrawal 
from the Alliance. — Termination of the War Page 522 

CHAPTER NXXIV. 

THE PARTITION OF POLAND. 

The King patronizes literary and scientific Men. — Anecdotes. — The Family Quarrel. — Birth of 
Frederick William III. — Rapid Recuperation of Prussia. — The King's Tour of Observation. — 
Desolate Aspect of the Country. — Absolutism of Frederick. — Interview between Frederick 
and D'Alembert. — Unpopularity of Frederick. — Death of the King of Poland. — Plans for the 
Partition of Poland. — Intrigues of Catharine. — Interview between Frederick and the Emperor 
Joseph. — Poland seized by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. — The Division of the Spoil. — Re- 
morse of Maria Theresa. — Indifference of Frederick to public Opinion 536 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

life's closing scenes. 
Character of the Crown Prince. — Stratagem of the Emperor Joseph II. — Death of the Empress 
Catharine of Russia. — Matrimonial Alliance of Russia and Prussia. — Death of the King of 
Bavaria. — Attempt to Annex Bavaria to Austria. — Unexpected Energy of Frederick. — Court 
Intrigues. — Preparations for War. — Address to the Troops. — Declaration of War. — Terror 
in Vienna. — Irritability of Frederick. — Death of Voltaire. — Unjust Condemnation of the 
Judges. — Death of Maria Theresa. — Anecdote. — The King's Fondness for Children. — His 
Fault-finding Spirit. — The King's Appearance. — The Last Review. — Statement of Mirabeau. 
— Anecdote related by Dr. Moore. — Frederick's Fondness for Dogs. — Increasing Weakness. 
— Unchanging Obduracy toward the Queen. — The Dying Scene 550 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Frederick the Great. Mt. 73 Frontispiece. 

Frederick the Great Page 19 

Baptism of Frederick 22 

Frederick William 23 

The little Drummer 29 

The Arsenal. 31 

The Sausage Car ?3 

Making a Soldier of him 39 

Captain of the Giant Guards 43 

The Tobacco Parliament 46 

Royalty at Dinner 57 

Wilhelmina 62 

The Dressing-gown 68 

A Koyal Executioner 71 

Frederick and his Sister 79 

The Flight arrested 90 

Frederick William enraged 94 

Destroying the Letters 96 

Wilhelmina Imprisoned. . '. 99 

Frederick in Prison 102 

Doris Patter's Punishment 104 

Frederick at Katte's Execution 108 

' Grumkow's conference with Wilhelmina.. . 116 

Disciplining the Judges 126 

Berlin Palace 129 

The Reconciliation — 133 

The Betrothal 143 

Frederick and Wilhelmina..' 159 

The King and his Servant 162 

Fritz in his Library 165 

The Banquet 170 

The Crown Prince entering the Tobacco 

Parliament 182 

Frederick meeting his Ministers 190 

Frederick in the Garden 196 

Frederick's first Interview with Voltaire. . . 204 

The Death-scene of the Emperor 215 

Map of Silesia 217 

The March into Silesia 224 

Attack upon Neisse 235 

Frederick on the Field of Baumgarten 241 

The Assault on Glogau 246 

Map illustrating the Mollwitz Campaign. . 247 

The Night before Mollwitz 25] 



Flight of Frederick Page 257 

Frederick at the Mill 260 

Battle of Mollwitz 261 

Frederick's Interview with Valori 272 

Frederick and the British Ministers 276 

The Queen's Appeal to the Hungarian 

Nobles 289 

The King approaching Schnellendorf 290 

Map of the second Silesian Campaign 294 

Frederick the Great. Mt. SO 296 

The young Lords of Saxony on a winter 

Campaign . 303 

Map illustrating the Campaign in Moravia. 306 
Frederick concentrating his Army at Chru- 

dim 308 

Battle of Chotusitz. 310 

Maria Theresa at the head of her Army.. . 317 

The Pandours 332 

The King in the Tower at Collin 337 

Prince Leopold inspecting the Army in his 

"Cart." 343 

Battle of Hohenfriedberg, June 4, 1745... . 350 

The Retreat of the Austrians 354 

A slight Pleasantry 357 

Frederick and the Old Dessau er 371 

Frederick at the Death-bed of M. Duhan.. 374 

Sans Souci 375 

The new Palace at Potsdam 376 

Frederick and Linsenbarth 382 

Tournament at Berlin in honor of Fred- 
erick,... 386 

The Invasion of Saxony 405 

Battle of Lobositz, October 1, 1756 407 

The Battle of Prague, May 6, 1757 412 

Battle of Kolin, June 18, 1757 416 

After the Defeat 41 7 

Sophia Dorothea 419 

Map of the Campaign of Rossbach 430 

Battle of Rossbach, November 5, 1757 431 

Map of the Leuthen Campaign 438 

Battle of Leuthen, December 5, 1757 440 

The King in search of Lodgings 444 

Siege of Olmiitz, May 1 2— July 2, 1758 . . . 450 
Charge of General Seidlitz at Zorndorf . . . 457 



XVI 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Battle of Zorndorf, August 25, 1758. .Page 459 

Campaign of Hochkirch 464 

Battle of Hochkirch, October 14, 1758 .... 467 

Frederick crossing the Oder 481 

Battle of Kunersdorf, August 12, 1759 .... 485 

Frederick asleep in the hut at Oetscher.. . . 488 

Battle of Maxen, November 20, 1759 494 

The winter Camp 496 

Battle of Liegnitz, August 16, 1760 505 

Sacking the Palace 510 

Battle of Torgau, November 3, 1760 512 



The King's Bivouac Page 525 

The Empress Catharine 530 

Assassination of Peter III 531 

The Officer and the Curate '. 535 

Frederick the Great. JEt. 59 537 

Map of the East 546 

Condemnation of the Judges 558 

Maria Theresa at the Tomb of her Hus- 
band 560 

The last Review 564 

Frederick and his Dogs 567 



FREDEKICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTER I 

PARENTAGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Origin of the Prussian Monarchy. — The Duchies of Brandenburg and Prussia. — The Elector 
crowned King Frederick I. — Frederick William. — His Childhood, Youth, and Marriage. — 
Birth of Fritz. — Death of Frederick I. — Eccentric Character of Frederick William.— His 
defective Education. — His Energy. — Curious Anecdotes. — Hatred of the French. — Educa- 
tion of Fritz. — The Father's Plan of Instruction. 

On the southern coasts of the Baltic Sea, between the latitudes 
of 52 9 and 54°, there lies a country which was first revealed to 
civilized eyes about three hundred years before the birth of 
Christ. The trading adventurers from Marseilles, who landed 
at various points upon the coast, found it a cold, savage region 
of lakes, forests, marshy jungles, and sandy wastes. A shaggy 
tribe peopled it, of semi-barbarians, almost as w T ild as the bears, 
wolves, and swine which roamed their forests. As the centuries 
rolled on, centuries of which, in these remote regions, history 
takes no note, but in which the gloomy generations came and 
went, shouting, fighting, weeping, dying, gradually the aspect of 
a rude civilization spread over those dreary solitudes. The sav- 
age inhabitants, somewhat tamed, increased in numbers, and 
there appeared a tall and manly race of fair complexion, light 
hair, stern aspect, great physical strength, and very formidable 
in battle. 

Still centuries elapsed, leaving little for history to record but 
war and woe. Fierce tribes swept in all directions. Battle was 
life's great business. Man, ignorant, degraded, brutal, could have, 
had but few if any joys. Perhaps, through his degradation, his 
woes were only such as beasts feel. By degrees, from this chaos, 
a certain kind of governmental order emerged. Small tribes be- 
came united under powerful chieftains. Kings arose. There 
were all varieties of political organizations, 'dukedoms, principal- 

B 



18 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ities, marquisates, and electorates. It is recorded that Adalbert, 
bishop of Prag, about the year 997, with two companions, as 
apostles of Christianity, first penetrated these wilds. Like Chris- 
tian heroes they went, with staff and scrip, regardless of danger. 
The bishop was fifty years of age, and his gray hairs floated in 
the breeze. As he landed a stout savage struck him with the 
flat of his oar, and sent him headlong to the ground. 

The zealous bishop, perhaps not unwilling to secure the crown 
of martyrdom, pressed on, preaching the Gospel, in face of pro- 
hibitions and menaces, until he entered one of the sacred incis- 
ures which was a sanctuary of the idols of these heathen. The 
priests rushed upon him, endeavored to drive him out, and struck 
him with a dagger in the back of his neck. He uttered but one 
cry, " Jesus, receive me !" and, stretching out his arms, fell with 
his face to the ground, and lay dead there " in the form of a cru- 
cifix." The place is yet pointed out where Adalbert fell. Still 
the seeds of Christianity were sown. Other missionaries fol- 
lowed. Idolatry disappeared, and the realm became nominally 
Christian. Revealed religion introduced increased enlighten- 
ment and culture, though there still remained much of the sav- 
agery of ancient days. 

When the Reformation in the sixteenth century was present- 
ed to Europe, and was rejected by Italy, France, Austria, and 
Spain, it was accepted, though not unanimously, yet very gener- 
ally, by the inhabitants of this wild region. In the year 1700 
there was, in the midst of the realm of which we are about to 
write, and which is now called Prussia, a province then known 
as the Marquisate of Brandenburg. It embraced a little over 
fifteen thousand square miles, being about twice as large as the 
State of Massachusetts. It was one of the electorates of Ger- 
many, and the elector or marquis, Frederick, belonged to the re- 
nowned family of Hohenzollern. To the east of Brandenburg 
there was a duchy called Prussia. This duchy, in some of the 
political agitations of the times, had been transferred to the Mar- 
quis of Brandenburg. The Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick, 
an ambitious man, rejoicing in the extent of his domain, which 
was large for a marquisate, though small for a monarchy, ob- 
tained from the Emperor of Germany its recognition as a king- 
dom, and assumed the title of Frederick I. of Prussia. Many of 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



19 




FREDERICK THE GR 



the proud monarchies of Europe did not conceal the contempt 
with which they regarded this petty kingdom. They received 
the elector into their society very much as haughty nobles, proud 
of a long line of illustrious ancestry, would receive a successful 
merchant who had purchased a title. Frederick himself was 
greatly elated with the honor he had attained, and his subjects 
shared with him in his exultation. 

Berlin was the capital of Brandenburg. Konigsberg, an im- 
portant sea-port on the Baltic, nearly five hundred miles east of 
Berlin, was the capital of the Prussian duchy. The ceremony 



20 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

of coronation took place at Konigsberg. The road, for most of 
the distance, was through a very wild, uncultivated country. 
Eighteen hundred carriages, with thirty thousand post-horses, 
were provided to convey the court to the scene of coronation. 
Such a cavalcade was never beheld in those parts before. The 
carriages moved like an army, in three divisions of six hundred 
each. Volumes have been written descriptive of the pageant. 
It is said that the diamond buttons on the king's coat cost seven 
thousand five hundred dollars each. The streets were not only 
tapestried with the richest cloth of the most gorgeous colors, but 
many of them were softly carpeted for the feet of the high-born 
men and proud dames who contributed, by their picturesque 
costume, to the brilliance of the spectacle. Frederick, with his 
own hands, placed the crown upon his brow. Thus was the king- 
dom of Prussia^ ushered into being at the close of the year 1700. 
Frederick I. had a son, Frederick William, then twelve years 
of age. He accompanied his father upon this coronation tour. 
As heir to the throne he was called the Crown Prince. His 
mother was a Hanoverian princess, a sister of the Elector George 
of Hanover, who subsequently became George I. of England. 
George I. did not succeed to the British crown until the death 
of Anne, in 1714. When Frederick William was but five years 
of age he had been taken by his mother to Hanover, to visit her 
brother, then the elector. George had two children — a little 
girl, named Sophie Dorothee, a few months older than Frederick 
William, and a son, who subsequently became George II. of En- 
gland. The two boys did not love each other. They often 
quarreled. Though Frederick William was the younger, it is 
said that on one occasion he severely beat his cousin, the future 
King of England, causing the blood to flow freely. He develo]3ed 
a very energetic but unamiable character. Among other anec- 
dotes illustrative of his determined spirit, it is recorded that at 
one time, during this visit, his governess ordered some task which 
he was unwilling to perform. The headstrong boy sprang out 
of the third story window of the castle, and, clinging to the sill 
with his hands, threatened to let himself drop. The terrified 
Madame Montbail was thus brought to terms.* 



* "He got no improvement in breeding, as we intimated; none at all: fought, on the 
rary, with his young cousin, afterward our George II., a boy twice his age, though of wt 



con- 
leaker 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 21 

Sophie Dorothee was a very pretty child. The plan was prob- 
ably already contemplated by the parents that the two should 
be married in due time. Soon after this Frederick William lost 
his mother, and with her all of a mother's care and gentle influ- 
ences. Her place was taken by a step-mother, whose peevishness 
and irritability soon developed into maniacal insanity. When 
Frederick William was eighteen years of age he was allowed to 
choose between three princesses for his wife. He took his pret- 
ty cousin, Sophie Dorothee. They were married with great pomp 
on the 28th of November, 1706. 

A son was born and died. A daughter came, Wilhelmina. 
But a daughter could not inherit the crown. Another son was 
born and died. There was great anxiety at court, from fear that 
the direct line of succession might not be preserved. But on 
the 24th of January, XZ12+ when the monarchy was but twelve 
years old, the little j)rince was born who subsequently obtained 
such renown as Frederick the Great. The king, his grandfather, 
was aged and infirm. The excessive joy with which he greeted 
little Fritz, as he fondly called the child, was cordially recipro- 
cated throughout the Prussian nation. The realm blazed with 
bonfires and illuminations, and resounded with every demonstra- 
tion of public joy. The young prince was christened with great 
pomp, Charles Frederick. The emperor, Charles VI., was pres- 
ent on the occasion, and in the solemnities there were blended 
the most imposing civil, military, and ecclesiastical rites. The 
baptism took place on the 31st of January, 1712, when the babe 
was a week old. The young prince subsequently dropped the 
name of Charles, and Frederick became his sole designation. 
Wilhelmina, Frederick's sister, was about three years older than 
himself. We .shall have frequent occasion to allude to her in the 
course of this history, as between her and her brother there 
sprang up a warm attachment, which was of life-long continu- 
ance. Ten children were subsequently born to the royal pair, 
making fourteen in all, most of whom attained mature years. 

Frederick William, the Crown Prince, was at the time of the 
birth of his son Frederick twenty-four years of age. He was a 

bone, and gave him a bloody nose, to the scandal and consternation of the French Protestant 
gentlemen and court dames in their stiff silks. 'Ahee your electoral highness!' This had 
been a rough unruly boy from the first discovery of him.'' — Carlyle. 



22 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




BAPTISM OF FREDERICK. 



very peculiar man, sturdy and thick-set in figure, of strong men- 
tal powers, but quite uneducated. He was unpolished in man- 
ners, rude in his address, honest and sincere, a stern, persevering 
worker, despising all luxurious indulgence, and excessively de- 
voted to the routine of military duties. 

The king, Frederick I., had for some time been in a feeble state 
of health. The burden of life had proved heavier than he was 
able to bear. His wife was crazed, his home desolate, his health 
broken, and many mortifications and disappointments had so 
crushed his spirits that he had fallen into the deepest state of 
melancholy. As he was sitting alone and sad in a chill morn- 
ing of February, 1713, gazing into the fire, absorbed in painful 
musings, suddenly there was a crash of the glass door of the 
apartment. His frenzied wife, half-clad, with disheveled hair, 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



23 




FREDERICK WILLIAM. 



having escaped from her keepers, came bursting through the 
shattered panes. Her arms were gashed with glass, and she was 
in the highest state of maniacal excitement. The shock proved 
a death-blow to the infirm old king. He was carried to his bed, 
which he never left, dying in a few days. His grandson Fred- 
erick was then fourteen months old. 

Frederick William was too stern a man to shed many tears 
over his father's death. The old king was ostentatious in his 
tastes, fond of parade and splendor. The son had almost an in- 
sane contempt for all court etiquette and all the elegancies of 



24 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

life. As he stood by his father's dying bed, his unamiable, rug- 
ged nature developed itself in .the disgust, almost rage, with 
which he regarded the courtly pageantry with which the expir- 
ing monarch was surrounded. The remains of the king were al- 
lowed to be conveyed to the tomb with that pomp which had 
been dear to him while living. 

But, immediately after these ceremonies were over, the new 
monarch, who assumed the crown with the title of Frederick 
William, not with that of Frederick II., to the utter consterna- 
tion of the court, dismissed nearly every honorary official of the 
palace, from the highest dignitary to the humblest page. His 
flashing eye and determined manner were so appalling that no 
one ventured to remonstrate. ^A clean sweep was made, so that 
the household was reduced to the lowest footing of economy con- 
sistent with the supply of indispensable wants. Eight servants 
were retained at six shillings a week. His father had thirty 
pages ; all were dismissed but three. There were one thousand 
saddle-horses in the royal stables; Frederick William kept thirty. 
Three fourths of the names were struck from the pension-list. 
Thus rigidly the king went on through every department of ad- 
ministrative and household expenses, until they were reduced to 
below a fifth of what they had been under his father. 

For twenty-seven years this strange man reigned. He was 
like no other monarch. Great wisdom and shrewdness were 
blended with unutterable folly and almost maniacal madness. 
Though a man of strong powers of mind, he was very illiterate. 
He certainly had some clear views of political economy. Car- 
lyle says of him, " His semi- articulate papers and rescripts on 
these subjects are still almost worth reading by a lover of genu- 
ine human talent in the dumb form. For spelling, grammar, 
penman ship, and composition they resemble nothing else extant 
— are as if clone by the paw of a bear ; indeed, the utterance gen- 
erally sounds more like the growling of a bear than any thing 
that could be handily spelled or parsed. But there is -a decisive 
human sense in the heart of it ; and there is such a dire hatred 
of empty bladders, unrealities, and hypocritical forms and pre- 
tenses, which he calls wind and humbug, as is very strange in- 
deed." 

His energy inspired the whole kingdom, and paved the way 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 25 

for the achievements of his son. The father created the machine 
with which the son attained such wonderful results. He com- 
muted the old feudal service into a fixed money payment. * He 
goaded the whole realm into industry, compelling even the ap- 
ple-woruen to knit at the stalls. The crown lands were careful- 
ly farmed out. He drained bogs, planted colonies, established 
manufactures, and in every way encouraged the use of Prussian 
products. He carried with him invariably a stout rattan cane. 
Upon the slightest provocation, like a madman, he would thrash 
those who displeased him. He was thoroughly an arbitrary 
king, ruling at his sovereign will, and disposing of the liberty, 
the property, and the lives of his subjects at his pleasure. Every 
year he was accumulating large masses of coin, which he deposit- 
ed in barrels in the cellar of his palace. He had no powers of 
graceful speech, but spent his energetic, joyless life in grumbling 
and growling. 

The Prussian minister, Baron Pollnitz, in a letter from Berlin 
dated June 6, 1729, writes : "The king's prime minister is the 
king himself, who is informed of every thing, and is desirous to 
know every thing. He gives great application to business, but 
does it with extraordinary ease ; and nothing escapes his pene- 
tration nor his memory, which is a very happy one. No sover- 
eign in the world is of more easy access, his subjects being actu- 
ally permitted to write to him without any other formality than 
superscribing the letter To the King. By writing underneath. 
To he delivered into his Majesty's own hands, one may be sure 
that the king receives and reads it, and that the next post he 
will answer it, either with his own hands or by his secretary. 
These answers are short, but peremptory. There is no town in 
all the King of Prussia's dominions, except Neufchatel, where he 
has not been ; no province which he does not know full well ; 
nor a court of justice but he is acquainted with its chief mem- 
bers." 

Fully conscious that the respect which would be paid to him 
as a European sovereign greatly depended upon the number of 
men he could bring into the field of battle, Frederick William 
devoted untiring energies to the creation of an army. By the 
most severe economy, watching with an eagle eye every expendi- 
ture, and bringing his cudgel down mercilessly upon the shoul- 



26 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ders of every loiterer, lie succeeded in raising and maintaining 
an army of one hundred thousand men ; seventy-two thousand 
being field troops, and thirty thousand in garrison.* He drilled 
these troops as troops were never drilled before. 

Kegardless himself of comfort, insensible to fatigue, dead to 
affection, he created perhaps the most potent military machine 
earth has ever known. Prussia was an armed camp. The king 
prized his soldiers as a miser prizes his gold coin, and was as un- 
willing to expose them to any danger as the miser is to hazard 
his treasures. War would thin his regiments, soil his uniforms, 
destroy his materiel. He hated war. But his army caused Prus- 
sia to be respected. If needful, he could throw one hundred 
thousand of the best drilled and best furnished troops in Eu- 
rope, like a thunderbolt, upon any point. Unprincipled mon- 
archs would think twice before they would encroach upon a man 
thus armed. 

There was but one short war in which Frederick William en- 
gaged during his reign of twenty-seven years. That was with 
Charles XII. of Sweden. It lasted but a few months, and from 
it the Prussian king returned victorious. The demands of Fred- 
erick William were not unreasonable. As he commenced the 
brief campaign, which began and ended with the siege of Stral- 
sund, he said: "Why will the very king whom I most respect 
compel me to be his enemy?" In his characteristic farewell. or- 
der to his ministers, he wrote : " My wife shall be told of all 
things, and counsel asked of her. And as I am a man, and may 
be shot dead, I command you and all to take care of Fritz, as God 
shall reward you. And I give you all, wife to begin with, my 
curse that God may punish you in time and eternity if you do 
not, after my death, bury me in the vault of the palace church 
at Berlin. And you shall make no grand to-do on the occasion. 
On your body and life no festivals and ceremonials, except that 
the regiments, one after the other, fire a volley over me. I am 
assured that you will manage every thing with all the exactness 
in the world, for which I shall ever, zealously, as long as I live, 
be your friend." 

The king was scrupulously clean, washing five times a clay. 
He would allow no drapery, no stuffed furniture, no carpets in 

* Gestdndnisse eines (Esterreichischen Veterans, i., p. G4. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 27 

his apartments. They caught dust. He sat upon a plain wood- 
en chair. He ate roughly, like a farmer, of roast beef, despising 
all delicacies. His almost invariable dress was a close military 
blue coat, with red cuffs and collar, buff waistcoat and breeches, 
and white linen gaiters to the knee. A sword was belted around 
his loins, and, as we have said, a stout rattan or bamboo cane 
ever in his hand. A well-worn, battered, triangular hat covered 
his head. He walked rapidly through the streets which sur- 
rounded his palaces at Potsdam and Berlin. If he met any one 
who attracted his attention, male or female, he would abruptly, 
menacingly inquire, "Who are you?" A street-lounger he has 
been known to hit over the head with his cane, exclaiming, 
" Home, you rascal, and go to work." If any one prevaricated 
or hesitated, he would sternly demand, " Look me in the face." 
If there were still hesitancy, or the king were dissatisfied with 
the answers, the one interrogated was lucky if he escaped with- 
out a caning.* 

The boorish king hated the refinement and polish of the French. 
If he met a lady in rich attire, she was pretty sure to be rudely 
assailed ; and a young man fashionably dressed could hardly es- 
cape the cudgel if he came within reach of the king's arm. The 
king, stalking through the streets, was as marked an object as an 
elephant would have been. Every one instantly recognized him, 
and many fled at his approach. One day he met a pale, thread- 
bare young man, who was quietly passing him, when the king 
stopped, in his jerking gait, and demanded, in his coarse, rapid 
utterance, " Who are you?" "I am a theological student," the 
young man quietly replied. "Where from?" added the king. 
" From Berlin," was the response. " From Berlin ?" the king re- 
joined; "the Berliners are all a good-for-nothing set." "Yes, 
your majesty, that is true of many of them," the young man add- 
ed ; " but I know of two exceptions." " Of two ?" responded the 
king ; " which are they ?" " Your majesty and myself," the young 
man replied. The king burst into a good-humored laugh, and, 

* "When his majesty took a walk, every human being fled before him, as if a tiger had broken 
loose from a menagerie. If he met a lady in the street, he gave her a kick, and told her to go 
home and mind her brats. If he saw a clergyman staring at the soldiers, he admonished the 
reverend gentleman to betake himself to study and prayer, and enforced this pious advice by a 
sound caning administered on the spot. But it was in his own house that he was most unrea- 
sonable and ferocious. His palace was hell, and he the most execrable of fiends." — Macaulay. 



28 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

after having the young man carefully examined, assigned him to 
a chaplaincy. 

The French minister at the court of Berlin, Count Rothen- 
burg, was a Prussian by birth. He was a man of much diplo- 
matic ability, and a very accomplished gentleman. Having spent 
much of his life in Paris, he had acquired the polished manners 
of the French court, and wore the costume appropriate to the 
Tuileries and Versailles. He and his associates in the embassy 
attracted much attention as they appeared in their cocked hats, 
flowing wigs, laced coats, and other gorgeous trimmings. The 
king, in his homespun garb, was apprehensive that the example 
so obnoxious to him might spread. 

There was to be a grand review on the parade-ground just out 
from Berlin, at which the French embassy was to be present. 
The king caused a party equal in number, composed of the low- 
est of the people, to be dressed in an enormous exaggeration of 
the French costume. Their cocked hats were nearly a yard in 
diameter. Immense wigs reached to their heels; and all other 
parts of the French court costume were caricatured in the most 
grotesque manner possible. As soon as the French embassy ap- 
peared, there was a great sound of trumpets and martial bands 
from another part of the field, and these harlequins were brought 
forward to the gaze of every eye, and conspicuously to the view 
of Count Rothenburg and his companions. Military discipline 
prevented any outburst of derisive laughter. Perfect silence 
reigned. The king sat upon his horse as stolid and grim as fate. 
Count Rothenburg yielded to this gross discourtesy of the king, 
and ever after, while he remained in Berlin, wore a plain Ger- 
man costume. 

Frederick William was very anxious that little Fritz should 
be trained to warlike tastes and habits ; that, like himself, he 
should scorn all effeminacy; that, wearing homespun clothes, 
eating frugal food, despising all pursuits of pleasure and all lit- 
erary tastes, he should be every inch a soldier. But, to the bit- 
ter disappointment of the father, the child manifested no taste 
for soldiering. He was gentle, affectionate, fond of books and 
music,* and with an almost feminine love clung to his sister. The 

* "It was the queen-mother who encouraged the prince in his favorite amusement, and who 
engaged musicians for his service. But so necessary was secrecy in all these negotiations that 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 29 

stern old king was not only disappointed, but angered. These 
were qualities which he deemed unmanly, and which he thor- 
oughly despised. 

One day the father, returning home, found, to his inexpressible 
delight, little Fritz strutting about beating a drum, with Wilhel- 
mina marching by his side. The king could scarcely restrain his 




THE LITTLE DRUMMER. 



joy. At last the military element was being developed in his 
child. He hastened with the tidings to his wife, whom he called 

if the king, his father, had discovered he was disobeyed, all these sons of Apollo would have in- 
curred the danger of being hanged. The prince frequently took occasion to meet his musi- 
cians a-hunting, and had his concerts either in a forest or cavern." — Burney, Present State of 
Music in Germany, ii., 139. 



30 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

by the pet name of " Phiekin" — a word apparently coined from 
Sophie. The matter was talked about all over the jDalaee. A 
painter was sent for to transfer the scene to canvas. This pic- 
ture, greatly admired, still hangs upon the walls of the Charlot- 
tenburg palace. Of this picture Carlyle writes: "Fritz is still, 
if not in ' long-clothes,' at least in longish and flowing clothes of 
the petticoat sort, which look as of dark blue velvet, very simple, 
pretty, and appropriate ; in a cap of the same ; has a short ra- 
ven's feather in the cap, and looks up with a face and eyes full 
of beautiful vivacity and child's enthusiasm, one of the beauti- 
fulest little figures, while the little drum responds to his bits of 
drumsticks. Sister Wilhelmina, taller by some three years, looks 
on in pretty stooping attitude, and with a graver smile. Black- 
amoor and room-furniture elegant enough ; and finally the figure 
of a grenadier on guard, seen far off through an open window, 
make up the background." 

The early governess of little Fritz was a French lady of much 
refinement and culture, Madame Racoule. She was in entire 
sympathy with her pupil. Their tastes were in harmony. Fritz 
became as familiar with the French language as if it were his 
mother tongue. Probably through her influence he acquired 
that fondness for French literature and that taste for French ele- 
gance which continued with him through life. 

When the child was but six years of age his father organized 
a miniature soldiers' company for him, consisting of one hundred 
lads. Gradually the number was increased to three hundred. 
The band was called "The Crown Prjnce Cadets." A very spir- 
ited, mature boy of seventeen, named Rentzel, was drill-sergeant, 
while an experienced colonel was appointed commander-in-chief. 
Fritz was very thoroughly instructed in his duties, and was fur- 
nished with a military dress, almost the fac-simile of that which 
his father wore. An arsenal was also provided for the child on 
the palace grounds at Potsdam, where he mounted batteries and 
practiced gunnery with small brass ordnance. Nothing was 
omitted which could inspire the prince with military enthusiasm, 
and render him skillful in the art of war. A Prussian gentleman 
of letters testifies as follows respecting Fritz in his seventh year: 

"The Crown Prince manifests in this tender age an uncommon 
capacity, nay, we may say, something quite extraordinary. He 

\ 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



31 




THE ARSENAL. 



is a most alert and vivacious prince. He has fine and sprightly 
manners, and shows a certain kindly sociality and so affection- 
ate a disposition that all things may be hoped of him. The 
French lady who has had charge of him hitherto can not speak 
of him without enthusiasm. ' He is a little angel/ she is wont 
to say. He takes up and learns whatever is placed before him 
with the greatest facility." 

When Fritz was seven years of age, he was taken from the 
care of his female teachers and placed under tutors who had been 
carefully selected for him. They were all military officers who 
had won renown on fields of blood. The first of these was M. 
Duhan, a French gentleman of good birth and acquirements. He 
was but thirty years of age. By his accomplishments he won 
the esteem, and by his amiability the love, of his pupil. Count 
Finkenstein, the second, was a veteran general, sixty years old, 
who also secured the affections of little Fritz. Colonel Kalk- 
stein was twenty-eight years of age. He was a thorough soldier 
and a man of honor. For forty years, until his death, he retained 
the regards of his pupil, who was ever accustomed to speak of 
him as " my master Kalkstein." In the education of the young 



32 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

prince every thing was conducted in accordance with the most 
inflexible routine. From the minute directions given to the 
teachers in a document drawn up by the father, bunglingly ex- 
pressed and wretchedly spelled, we cull out the following : 
^ "My son must be impressed with love and fear of God, as the 
foundation of our temporal and eternal welfare. No false re- 
ligions or sects of Atheist, Arian, Socinian, or whatever name the 
poisonous things have, which can so easily corrupt a young mind, 
are to be even named in his hearing. He is to be taught a prop- 
er abhorrence of papistry, and to be shown its baselessness and 
nonsensicality. Impress on him the true religion, which consists 
essentially in this, that Christ died for all men. He is to learn 
no Latin, but French and German, so as to speak and write with 
brevity and propriety. 

"Let him learn arithmetic, mathematics, artillery, economy, to 
the very bottom ; history in particular ; ancient history only 
slightly, but the history of the last hundred and fifty years to 
the exactest pitch. He must be completely master of geography, 
as also of whatever is remarkable in each country. With in- 
creasing years you will more and more, to an especial degree, go 
upon fortification, the formation of a camp, and other war sci- 
ences, that the prince may, from youth upward, be trained to act 
as officer and general, and to seek all his glory in the soldier 
profession. You have, in the highest measure, to make it your 
care to infuse into my son a true love for the soldier business, 
and to impress on him that, as there is nothing in the world 
which can bring a prince renown and honor like the sword, so 
he would be a despised creature before all men r if he did not 
love it and seek his glory therein." 

In October, 1723, when the prince was eleven years of age, his 
grandfather, George I., came to Berlin to visit his daughter and 
his son-in-law, the mother and father of Fritz. From the win- 
dows of his apartment he looked out with much interest upon 
Fritz, drilling his cadet company upon the esplanade in front of 
the palace. The clock-work precision of the movements of the 
boy soldiers greatly surprised him. 

Every year Frederick William rigorously reviewed all his gar- 
risons. Though accompanied by a numerous staff, he traveled 
with Spartan simplicity, regardless of exposure and fatigue. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



33 




THE SAUSAGE CAR. 



From an early age he took Fritz with him on these annual re- 
views. A common vehicle, called the sausage car, and which 
was the most primitive of carriages, was often used by the king 
in his rough travels and hunting excursions. This consisted of 
a mere stuffed pole, some ten or twelve feet long, upon which one 
sits astride, as if riding a rail. It rested upon wheels, probably 
with a sort of stirrup for the feet, and the riders, ten or a dozen, 
were rattled along oyer the rough roads, through dust or mad, 
alike regardless of winter's frost or summer's rain. The cast- 
iron king, rejoicing in hardship and exposure, robbed his deli- 
cate child even of needful sleep, saying, "Too much sleep stupe- 
fies a fellow." 

This rude, coarse discipline was thoroughly uncongenial to the 
Crown Prince. He was a boy of delicate feelings and sensitive 
temperament. The poetic nature very decidedly predominated 
in him. He was fond of music, played the flute, wrote verses, 
and was literary in his tastes. He simply hated chasing boars, 
riding on the sausage car, and being drenched with rain and 
spattered with mud. The old king, a mere animal with an act- 
ive intellect, could not appreciate, could not understand even, the 

C 



34 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

delicate mental and physical organization of his child. It is in- 
teresting to observe how early in life these constitutional char- 
acteristics will develop themselves, and how unavailing are all 
the efforts of education entirely to obliterate them. When Fred- 
erick William was a boy, he received, as a present, a truly mag- 
nificent dressing-gown, of graceful French fashion, richly em- 
broidered with gold. Indignantly he thrust the robe into the 
fire, declaring that he would wear no such finery, and demanded 
instead a jacket of wholesome homespun. Fritz, on the contrary, 
could not endure the coarse homespun, but, with almost girlish 
fondness, craved handsome dress. He had no money allowance 
until he was seventeen years of age. A minute account was 
kept of every penny expended for him, and the most rigid econ- 
omy was practiced in providing him with the mere necessaries 
of life. When Fritz was in the tenth year of his age, his father 
gave the following curious directions to the three teachers of his 
son in reference to his daily mode of life. The document, an 
abridgment of which we give, was dated Wusterhausen, Septem- 
ber 3,1721: 

"On Sunday he is to rise at seven o'clock, and, as soon as he 
has got his slippers on, shall kneel at his bedside and pray to 
God, so as all in the room may hear, in these words : 

"'Lord God, blessed Father, I thank thee from my heart that 
thou hast so graciously preserved me through this night. Fit 
me for what thy holy will is, and grant that I do nothing this 
day, nor all the days of my life, which can divide me from thee; 
for the Lord Jesus my Kedeemer's sake. Amen.' 

"After which the Lord's Prayer; then rapidly and vigorous- 
ly wash himself clean ; dress, and powder, and comb himself. 
While they are combing and queuing him, he is to breakfast on 
tea. Prayer, washing, breakfast, and the rest to be done point- 
edly within fifteen minutes. 

"This finished, his domestics and preceptor, Duhan, shall come 
in and perform family worship. Prayer on their knees. Duhan 
to read a chapter of the Bible, and sing some proper psalm or 
hymn. All the domestics then withdraw, and Duhan reads my 
son the Gospel of the Sunday, expounds it a little, adducing the 
main points of Christianity, and questioning him from Noltenius's 
Catechism. It will then be nine o'clock. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 35 

"At nine o'clock he brings my son down to me, who goes to 
church and dines with me at twelve o'clock. The rest of the 
day is his own. At half past nine in the evening he shall come 
and bid me good-night ; shall then go directly to his room ; very 
rapidly get off his clothes, wash his hands, and, as soon as that 
is done,Duhan shall make a prayer on his knees and sing a hymn, 
all the servants being there again. Instantly after which my 
son shall get into bed ; shall be in bed at half past ten. 

" On Monday, as on all week-days, he is to be called at six 
o'clock, and so soon as he is called he is to rise. You are to 
stand by him that he do not loiter or turn in bed, but briskly 
and at once get up and say his prayers the same as on Sunday 
morning. This done, he shall, as rapidly as he can, get on his 
shoes and spatterdashes, also wash his face and hands, but not 
with soap ; shall put on his dressing-gown, have his hair combed 
and queued, but not powdered. While being combed and queued, 
he shall, at the same time, take breakfast of tea, so that both jobs 
go on at once ; and all this shall be ended before half past six. 
Preceptor and domestics shall then come in with Bible and 
hymn-books, and have family worship as on Sunday. This shall 
be done by seven o'clock. 

"From seven till nine Duhan takes him on history; at nine 
o'clock comes Noltenius" (a clergyman from Berlin) " with the 
Christian religion till a quarter to eleven. Then Fritz rapidly 
washes his face with water, his hands with soap and water ; clean 
shirt ; powders and puts on his coat. At eleven o'clock he comes 
to the king, dines with him at twelve, and stays till two. 

"Directly at two he goes back to his room. Duhan is then 
ready ; takes him upon maps and geography from two to three 
o'clock, giving account of all the European kingdoms, their 
strength and weakness ; the size, riches, and poverty of their 
towns. From three o'clock till four Duhan shall treat of moral- 
ity ; from four till five shall write German letters with him, and 
see that he gets a good style. About five o'clock Fritz shall 
wash his hands and go to the king ; ride out, and divert himself 
in the air, and not in his room, and do what he likes if it is not 
against God." 

Thus the employments of every hour were strictly specified 
for every day in the week. On Wednesday he had a partial 



36 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

holiday. After half past nine, having finished his history and 
" got something by heart to strengthen the memory, Fritz shall 
rapidly dress himself and come to the king, and the rest of the 
day belongs to little Fritz." On Saturday he was to be reviewed 
in all the studies of the week, " to see whether he has profited. 
General Finkenstein and Colonel Kalkstein shall be present dur- 
ing this. If Fritz has profited, the afternoon shall be his own. 
If he has not profited, he shall from two o'clock till six repeat 
and learn rightly what he has forgotten on the past days. In 
undressing and dressing, you must accustom him to get out of 
and into his clothes as fast as is humanly possible. You will 
also look that he learn to put on and put off his clothes himself, 
without help from others, and that he be clean, and neat, and not 
so dirty." 



CHAPTER II. 

LIFE IN THE PALACE. 

The Palace of Wusterhausen. — Wilhelraina and Fritz. — Education of tie Crown Prince.— 
Rising Dislike of the Father for his Son. — The Mother's Sympathy.— Tile double Marriage. — 
Character of George I. — The King of England visits Berlin. — Wimelmina's Account of the 
Interview. — Sad Fate of the Wife of George I. — The Giant Guard/— Despotism of Frederick 
William. — The Tobacco Parliament. — A brutal Scene. — Death of George I. — The Royal 
Family of Prussia. — Augustus, King of Poland. — Corruption of his Court. — Cruel Treatment 
of Fritz. — Insane Conduct of the King. 

Wusterhausen, where the young Crown Prince spent many 
of these early years of his life, was a rural retreat of the king 
about twenty miles southeast from Berlin. The palace consisted 
of a plain, unornamented, rectangular pile, surrounded by numer- 
ous outbuildings, and rising from the midst of low and swampy 
grounds tangled with thickets and interspersed with fish-pools. 
Game of all kinds abounded in those lakelets, sluggish streams, 
and jungles. 

In the court-yard there was a fountain with stone steps, where 
Frederick William loved to sit on summer evenings and smoke 
his pipe. He frequently took his frugal dinner here in the open 
air under a lime-tree, with the additional protection of an awning. 
After dinner he would throw himself down for a nap on a 
wooden bench, apparently regardless of the flaming sun. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 37 

There seems to have been but little which was attractive 
about this castle. It was surrounded by a moat, which Wilhel- 
mina describes as a " black, abominable ditch." Its pets were 
shrieking eagles, and two black bears ugly and vicious. Its in- 
terior accommodations were at the farthest possible remove from 
luxurious indulgence. "It was a dreadfully crowded place," 
says Wilhelmina, " where you are stuffed into garrets and have 
not room to turn." 

Still Wusterhausen was but a hunting-lodge, which was occu- 
pied by the king only during a few weeks in the autumn. Fritz 
had many playmates — his brothers and sisters, his cousins, and 
the children of General Finkenstein. To most boys, the streams, 
and groves, and ponds of Wusterhausen, abounding with fish and 
all kinds of game, with ponies to drive and boats to row, with 
picturesque walks and drives, would have been full of charms. 
But the tastes of Fritz did not lie in that direction. He does 
not seem to have become strongly attached to any of his young 
companions, except to his sister Wilhelmina. The affection and 
confidence which united their hearts were truly beautiful. They 
encountered together some of the severest of life's trials, but 
heartfelt sympathy united them. The nickname which these 
children gave their unamiable father was Stumpy. 

There were other abodes of the king, the Berlin and Potsdam 
palaces, which retained much of the splendor with which they 
had been embellished by the splendor-loving monarch, Frederick 
I. There were but few regal mansions in the world which then 
surpassed them. And though the king furnished his own apart- 
ments with Spartan simplicity and rudeness, there were other 
portions of these royal residences, as also their surroundings in 
general, which were magnificent in the highest degree. The 
health of little Fritz was rather frail, and at times he found it 
hard to devote himself to his sturdy tasks with the energy which 
his father required. 

Though Fritz wrote a legible business hand, was well instruct- 
ed in most points of useful knowledge, and had a very decided 
taste for elegant literature, he never attained correctness in spell- 
ing. The father was bitterly opposed to Latin. Perhaps it was 
the prohibition which inspired the son with an intense desire to 
learn that language. He took secret lessons. His vigilant fa- 



38 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ther caught him in the very act, with dictionary and grammar, 
and a teacher by his side. The infuriated king, volleying forth 
his rage, would have caned the teacher had he not in terror fled.* 

The king soon learned, to his inexpressible displeasure and 
mortification, that his boy was not soldierly in his tastes ; that he 
did not love the rude adventures of the chase, or the exposure 
and hardships which a martial life demands. He had caught 
Fritz playing the flute, and even writing verses. He saw that 
he was fond of graceful attire, and that he was disposed to dress 
his hair in the French fashion. He was a remarkably handsome 
boy, of fine figure, with a lady's hand and foot, and soft blonde 
locks carefully combed. All this the king despised. Scornfully 
and indignantly he exclaimed, " My son is a flute-player and a 
poet !" In his vexation he summoned Fritz to his presence, call- 
ed in the barber, and ordered his flowing locks to be cut off, 
cropped, and soaped in the most rigid style of military cut. 

The father was now rapidly forming a strong dislike to the 
character of his son. In nothing were they in harmony. Five 
princesses had been born, sisters of Fritz. At last another son 
was born, Augustus William, ten years younger than Frederick. 
The king turned his eyes to him, hoping that he would be more 
in sympathy with the paternal heart. His dislike for Fritz grew 
continually more implacable, until it assumed the aspect of bit- 
ter hatred. 

Sophie Dorothee tenderly loved her little Fritz, and, with a 
mother's fondness, endeavored to shield him, in every way in her 
power, from his father's brutality. Wilhelmina also clung to 
her brother Avith devotion which nothing could disturb. Thus 
both mother and daughter incurred in some degree the hatred 
with which the father regarded his son. It will be remembered 
that the mother of Fritz was daughter of George I. of England. 
Her brother subsequently became George II. He had a son, 
Fred, about the age of Wilhelmina, and a daughter, Amelia, six 
months older than Fritz. The mother, Sophie Dorothee, had set 
her heart upon a double marriage — of Wilhelmina with Fred, 

* "One of the preceptors A'entured to read the 'Golden Bull' in the original Latin with the 
prince royal. Frederick William entered the room, and broke out, in his usual kingly style, 
' Rascal, what are you at there?' 'Please your majesty, ' answered the preceptor, 'I was ex- 
plaining the " Golden Bull" to his royal highness.' ' I'll Golden Bull you, you rascal !' roared 
the majesty of Prussia. Up went the king's cane, away ran the terrified instructor, and Fred- 
erick's classical studies ended forever." — Macaulat. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




SOLDIER OF HIM. 



and of Fritz with Amelia. But many obstacles arose in the 
way of these nuptials. 

George was a taciturn, jealous, sullen old man, who quarreled 
with his son, who was then Prince of Wales. The other pow- 
ers of Europe were decidedly opposed to this double marriage, 
as it would, in their view, create too intimate a union between 
Prussia and England, making them virtually one. Frederick 
William also vexatiously threw hinderances in the way. But 
the heart of the loving mother, Sophie Dorothee, was fixed upon 
these nuptials. For years she left no efforts of diplomacy or in- 
trigue untried to accomplish her end. George I. is represented 



40 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

by Horace Walpole as a stolid, stubborn old German, living in 
a cloud of tobacco-smoke, and stupefying his faculties with beer. 
He had in some way formed a very unfavorable opinion of Wil- 
helmina, considering her, very falsely, ungainly in person and 
fretful in disposition. But at last the tact of Sophie Dorothee 
so far prevailed over her father, the British king, that he gave 
his somewhat reluctant but positive consent to the double mat- 
rimonial alliance. This was in 1723. Wilhelmina was then 
fourteen years of age. Fritz, but eleven years old, was too young 
to think very deeply upon the subject of his marriage. The 
young English Fred bore at that time the title of the Duke of 
Gloucester. He soon sent an envoy to Prussia, probably to con- 
vey to his intended bride presents and messages of love. The 
interview took place in the palace of Charlottenburg, a few miles 
out from Berlin. The vivacious Wilhelmina, in the following 
terms, describes the interview in her journal : 

" There came, in those weeks, one of the Duke of Gloucester's 
gentlemen to Berlin. The queen had a soiree. He was present- 
ed to her as well as to me. He made a very obliging compli- 
ment on his master's part. I blushed and answered only by a 
courtesy. The queen, who had her eye on me, was very angry 
that I had answered the duke's compliments in mere silence, and 
rated me sharply for it, and ordered me, under pain of her indig- 
nation, to repair that fault to-morrow. I retired all in tears to 
my room, exasperated against the queen and against the duke. 
I vowed I would never marry him. 

" Meanwhile the King of England's time of arrival was draw- 
ing nigh. We repaired on the 6th of October to Charlottenburg 
to receive him. My heart kept beating. I was in cruel agita- 
tions. King George arrived on the 8th about seven in the even- 
ing. The King of Prussia, the queen, and all their suite received 
him in the court of the palace, the apartments being on the 
ground floor. So soon as he had saluted the king and queen I 
was presented to him. He embraced me, and, turning to the 
queen, said, 'Your daughter is very large of her age.' He gave 
the queen his hand and led her into her apartment, whither ev- 
ery body followed them. As soon as I came in he took a light 
from the table and surveyed me from head to foot. I stood mo- 
tionless as a statue, and was much put out of countenance. All 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 41 

this went on without his uttering the least word. Having thus 
passed me in review, he addressed himself to my brother, whom 
he caressed much and amused himself with for a good while. 

" The queen made me a sign to follow her, and passed into a 
neighboring apartment, where she had the English and Germans 
of King George's suite successively presented to her. After some 
talk with these gentlemen she withdrew, leaving me to enter- 
tain them, and saying, ' Speak English to my daughter ; you will 
find she speaks it very well.' I felt much less embarrassed when 
the queen was gone, and, picking up a little courage, entered into 
conversation with these English. As I spoke their language like 
my mother tongue I got pretty well out of the affair, and every 
body seemed charmed with me. They made my eulogy to the 
queen ; told her I had quite the English air, and was made to 
be their sovereign one day. It was saying a great deal on their 
part ; for these English think themselves so much above all other 
people that they imagine that they are paying a high compliment 
when they tell any one he has got English manners. 

" Their king" (Wilhelmina's grandfather) " was of extreme 
gravity, and hardly spoke a word to any body. He saluted 
Madam Son sf eld, my governess, very coldly, and asked if I was 
always so serious, and if my humor was of a melancholy turn. 
' Any thing but that, sire,' answered Madam Sonsfeld ; i but the 
respect she has for your majesty prevents her from being as 
sprightly as she commonly is.' He shook his head and said noth- 
ing. The reception he had given me, and this question, gave me 
such a chill that I never had the courage to speak to him." 

The wife of George I., the mother of Sophie Dorothee, was the 
subject of one of the saddest of earthly tragedies. Her case is 
still involved in some obscurity. She was a beautiful, haughty, 
passionate princess of Zelle when she married her cousin George, 
Elector of Hanover. George became jealous of Count Konigs- 
mark, a very handsome courtier of commanding address. In an 
angry altercation with his wife, it is said that the infuriate hus- 
band boxed her ears. Suddenly, on the 1st of July, 1694, Count 
Konigsmark disappeared. Mysteriously he vanished from earth, 
and was heard of no more. The unhappy wife, who had given 
birth to the daughter Sophie Dorothee, bearing her mother's 
name, and to a son, afterward George II., almost frenzied with 



42 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

rage, was divorced from lier husband, and was locked up in the 
gloomy castle of Ahlden, situated in the solitary moors of Lune- 
Iburg heath. Here she was held in captivity for thirty years, 
until she died. In the mean time, George, ascending the throne 
of England, solaced himself in the society of female favorites, 
none of whom he honored with the title of wife. The raging 
captive of Ahlden, who seems never to have become submissive 
to her lot, could, of course, exert no influence in the marriage of 
her grandchildren. 

Wilhelmina says that her grandpapa George was intolerably 
proud after he had attained the dignity of King of England, and 
that he was much disposed to look down upon her father, the 
King of Prussia, as occupying a very inferior position. Vexa- 
tiously he delayed signing the marriage treaty, to which he had 
given a verbal assent, evading the subject and presenting frivo- 
lous excuses. The reputation of the English Fred was far from 
good. He had attained eighteen years of age, was very unat- 
tractive in personal appearance, and extremely dissolute. George 
I., morose and moody, was only rendered more obstinate by be- 
ing pressed. These delays exasperated Frederick William, who 
was far from being the meekest of men. Poor Sophie Doro- 
thee was annoyed almost beyond endurance. Wilhelmina took 
the matter very coolly, for she declared that she cared noth- 
ing about her cousin Fred, and that she had no wish to marry 
him. 

The months rolled rapidly on, and Fritz, having entered his 
fourteenth year, was appointed by his father, in May, 1725, cap- 
tain in the Potsdam Grenadier Guard. This giant regiment has 
attained world-wide renown, solely from the peculiarity of its or- 
ganization. Such a body of men never existed before, never will 
again. It was one of the singular freaks of the Prussian king to 
form a grenadier guard of men of gigantic stature. In the prose- 
cution of this senseless aim not only his own realms were ran- 
sacked, but Europe and even Asia was explored insearch of gi- 
ants. The army was with Frederick William the great object 
of life, and the giant guard was the soul of the army. This guard 
consisted of three battalions, 800 in each, 2400 in all. The short- 
est of the men were nearly seven feet high. The tallest were 
almost nine feet in height. They had been gathered, at an enor- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



43 







CAPTAIN OF THE GIANT GUARDS. 



mous expense, out of every country where they could be found. 
No greater favor could be conferred upon the king than to ob- 
tain for him a giant. Many amusing anecdotes are related of 
the stratagems to which the king resorted to obtain these mam- 
moth soldiers. Portraits were painted of all of them. Freder- 
ick William paid very little regard to individual rights or to the 
law of nations if any chance presented itself by which he could 
seize upon one of these monster men. Reigning in absolutism, 
compared with which the despotism of Turkey is mild, if he 
found in his domains any young woman of remarkable stature, 
he would compel her to marry one of his giants. It does not, 



44 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

however, appear that he thus succeeded in perpetuating a gi- 
gantic race. 

Prussian recruiters were sent in all directions to search with 
eagle eyes for candidates for the Potsdam Guard. Their pay 
was higher than that of any other troops, and they enjoyed un- 
usual privileges. Their drill and discipline were as perfect as 
could by any possibility be achieved. The following stories are 
apparently well authenticated, describing the means to which 
the king often resorted to obtain these men. 

In the town of Zulich there was a very tall young carpenter 
by the name of Zimmerman. A Prussian recruiting officer, in 
disguise, Baron von Hompesch, entered the shop and ordered a 
stout chest to be made, " six feet six inches in length, at least — 
at all events, longer than yourself, Mr. Zimmerman. Mind you," 
he added, " if too short it will be of no service to me." At the 
appointed time he called for the chest. Looking at it, he ex- 
claimed, in apparent disappointment, " Too short, as I dreaded !" 
" I am certain it is over six feet six," said the carpenter, taking 
out his rule. " But I said that it was to be longer than yourself," 
was the reply. "Well, it is," rejoined the carpenter. To prove 
it, he jumped into the chest. Hompesch slammed down the lid, 
locked it, whistled, and three stout fellows came in, who shoul- 
dered the chest and carried it through the streets to a remote 
place outside of the town. Here the chest was opened, and poor 
Zimmerman was found dead, stifled to death. 

On another occasion, an Austrian gentleman, M. Von Benten- 
rieder, who was exceedingly tall, was journeying from Vienna to 
Berlin as the embassador from the Emperor Charles VI. to the 
Congress of Cambrai. When near Halberstadt some'part of his 
carriage broke. While the smith was repairing it, M. Benten- 
rieder walked on. He passed a Prussian guard-house, alone, in 
plain clothes, on foot, an immensely tall, well-formed man. It 
was too rich a prize to be lost. The officials seized him, and 
hurried him into the guard-house. But soon his carriage came 
along with his suite. He was obsequiously hailed as " Your 
Excellency." The recruiting officers of Frederick William, mor- 
tified and chagrined, with many apologies released the embassa- 
dor of the emperor. 

As we have mentioned, the agents of the King of Prussia were 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 45 

eager to kidnap tall men, in whatever country they could find 
them. This greatly exasperated the rulers of the various realms 
of all sizes and conditions which surrounded the Prussian terri- 
tory. Frederick William was always ready to apologize, and to 
aver that each individual act was done without his orders or 
knowledge. Still, there was no abatement of this nuisance. 
Several seizures had been made in Hanover, which was the he- 
reditary domain of George I., King of England. George was 
very angry. He was increasingly obstinate in withholding his 
assent to the double marriage, and even, by way of reprisal, 
seized several of the subjects of Frederick William, whom he 
caught in Hanover. 

Sophie Dorothee seemed to have but one thought — the double 
marriage. This would make Wilhelmina queen of England, and 
would give her dear son Frederick an English princess for his 
bride. Her efforts, embarrassments, disappointments, were end- 
less. Frederick William began to be regarded by the other 
powers as a very formidable man, whose alliance was exceeding- 
ly desirable. His army, of sixty thousand men, rapidly increas- 
ing, was as perfect in drill and discipline as ever existed. It 
was thoroughly furnished with all the appliances of war. The 
king himself, living in Spartan simplicity, and cutting down the 
expenses of his court to the lowest possible figure, was consecra- 
ting the resources of his realm to the promotion of its physical 
strength, and was accumulating iron-bound casks of gold and sil- 
ver coin in the cellars of his palace. It became a matter of much 
moment to every court in Europe whether such a monarch 
should be its enemy or its ally. 

After a long series of intrigues, a narrative of which would not 
interest the reader, Frederick William was induced to enter into 
an alliance, offensive and defensive, with the Emperor Charles 
VI. of Germany. This was renouncing the alliance with En- 
gland, and threw an additional obstacle in the way of the dou- 
ble marriage. Sophie Dorothee was bitterly disappointed, and 
yet pertinaciously struggled on to accomplish her end. 

There was an institution, if we may so call it, in the palace of 
the King of Prussia which became greatly renowned, and which 
was denominated " The Tobacco College," or " Tobacco Parlia- 
ment." It consisted simply of a smoking-room very plainly fur- 



46 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



Arm 



~fe , :<--: 




THE TOBACCO PARLIAMENT. 



nished, where the king and about a dozen of his confidential ad- 
visers met to smoke and to talk over, with perfect freedom and 
informality, affairs of state. Carlyle thus quaintly describes this 
Tabagie : 

" Any room that was large enough, and had height of ceiling 
and air circulation, and no cloth furniture, would do. And m 
each palace is one, or more than one, that has been fixed upon 
and fitted out for that object. A high room, as the engravings 
give it us; contented, saturnine human figures, a dozen or so 
of them, sitting around a large, long table furnished for the occa- 
sion ; a long Dutch pipe in the mouth of each man ; su]3plies of 
knaster easily accessible ; small pan of burning peat, in the Dutch 
fashion (sandy native charcoal, which burns slowly without 
smoke), is at your left hand ; at your right a jug, which I find to 
consist of excellent, thin, bitter beer ; other costlier- materials for 
drinking, if you want such, are not beyond reach. On side-ta- 
bles stand wholesome cold meats, royal rounds of beef not want- 
ing, with bread thinly sliced and buttered ; in a rustic, but neat 
and abundant way, such innocent accommodations, narcotic or 
nutritious, gaseous, fluid, and solid, as human nature can require. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 47 

Perfect equality is the rule ; no rising or no notice taken when 
any body enters or leaves. Let the entering man take his place 
and pipe without obligatory remarks. If he can not smoke, let 
him at least affect to do so, and not ruffle the established stream 
of things. And so puff, slowly puff! and any comfortable speech 
that is in you, or none, if you authentically have not any." 

Distinguished strangers were often admitted to the Tabagie. 
The Crown Prince Fritz was occasionally present, though always 
reluctantly. The other children of this numerous family not 
unfrequently came in to bid papa good-night. Here every thing 
was talked of, with entire freedom, all court gossip, the adven- 
tures of the chase, diplomacy, and the administrative measures 
of the government. Frederick William had but very little re- 
spect for academic culture. He had scarcely the slightest ac- 
quaintance with books, and gathered around him mainly men 
whose knowledge was gained in the practical employments of 
life. It would seem, from many well-authenticated, anecdotes, 
which have come down to us from the Tabagie, that these 
smoking companions of the king, like Frederick William him- 
self, must have been generally a coarse set of men. 

One of this smoking cabinet was a celebrated adventurer 
named Gundling, endowed with wonderful encyclopedian knowl- 
edge, and an incorrigible drunkard. He had been every where, 
seen every thing, and remembered all which he had either heard 
or seen. Frederick William had accidentally picked him up, 
and, taking a fancy to him, had clothed him, pensioned him, and 
introduced him to his Tabagie, where his peculiar character oft- 
en made him the butt of ridicule. He was excessively vain, 
wore a scarlet coat, and all manner of pranks were cut up by 
these boon companions, in the midst of their cups, at his expense. 
' Another adventurer, by the name of Fassman, who had writ- 
ten books, and who made much literary pretension, had come to 
Berlin and also got introduced to the Tabagie. He was in char- 
acter very like Gundling, and the two could never agree. Fass- 
man could be very sarcastic and bitter in his speech. One even- 
ing, as the king and his smoking cabinet were sitting enveloped 
in the clouds which they were breathing forth, and were all 
muddled with tobacco and beer — for the king himself was a 
hard drinker — Fassman so enraged Gundling by some cutting 



48 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

remarks, that the latter seized his pan of burning peat and red- 
hot sand and dashed it into the face of his antagonist. Fass- 
inan, who was much the more powerful of the two, was seriously 
burned. He instantly grasped his antagonist, dragged him 
down, and beat him savagely with his hot pan, amidst roars of 
laughter from the beer-stupefied bacchanals. 

The half-intoxicated king gravely suggests that such conduct 
is hardly seemly among gentlemen ; that the duel is the more 
chivalric way of settling such difficulties. Fassman challenges 
Gundling. They meet with pistols. It is understood by the 
seconds that it is to be rather a Pickwickian encounter. The 
trembling Gundling, when he sees his antagonist before him, 
with the deadly weapon in his hand, throws his pistol away, 
which his considerate friends had harmlessly loaded with pow- 
der only, declaring that he would not shoot any man, or have 
any man shoot him. Fassman sternly advances with his harm- 
less pistol, and shoots the powder into Gundling's wig. It 
blazes into a flame. With a shriek Gundling falls to the ground 
as if dead. A bucket of water extinguishes the flames, and 
roars of laughter echo over the chivalric field of combat. 

Such was the Tobacco Parliament in its trivial aspects. But 
it had also its serious functions. Many questions were discussed 
there which stirred men's souls, and which roused the ambition 
or the wrath of the stern old king to the utmost pitch. 

We have now reached the year 1726. The Emperor of Ger- 
many declares that he can never give his consent to the double 
marriage with the English princes. Frederick William, who is 
not at all fond of his wife's relatives, and is annoyed by the hes- 
itancy which his father-in-law has manifested in reference to it, 
is also turning his obstinate will against the nuptial alliance. 
A more imperative and inflexible man never breathed. This 
year the unhappy wife of George I. died, unreconciled, wretched, 
exasperated, after thirty years' captivity in the castle of Ahlden. 
Darker and darker seemed the gloom which enveloped the path 
of Sophie Dorothee. She still clung to the marriages as the 
dearest hope of her heart. It was with her an ever-present 
thought. But Frederick William was the most obdurate and 
obstinate of mortals. 

" The wide, overarching sky," writes Carlyle, " looks 'down on 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 49 

no more inflexible sovereign man than him, in the red-collared 
blue coat and white leggins, with the bamboo in his hand ; a 
peaceable, capacious, not ill-given sovereign man, if you will let 
him have his way ; but to bar his way, to tweak the nose of his 
sovereign royalty, and ignominiously force liim into another way, 
that is an enterprise no man or devil, or body of men or devils, 
need attempt. The first step in such an attempt will require to 
be the assassination of Frederick Wilhelm, for you may depend 
upon it, royal Sophie, so long as he is alive the feat can not be 
done." 

While these scenes were transpiring the Crown Prince was 
habitually residing at Potsdam, a favorite royal residence about 
seventeen miles west from Berlin. Here he was rigidly attend' 
ing to his duties in the giant regiment. We have now, in our 
narrative, reached the year 1727. Fritz is fifteen years of age, 
He is attracting attention by his vivacity, his ingenuous, agree 
able manners, and his fondness for polite literature. He occa- 
sionally is summoned by his father to the Smoking Cabinet, 
But the delicacy of his physical organization is such that he 
loathes tobacco, and only pretends to smoke, with mock gravity 
puffing from his empty, white clay pipe. Neither has he any 
relish for the society which he meets there. Though faithful to 
the mechanical duties of the drill, they were very irksome to 
him. His books and his fiute were his chief joy. Voltaire was 
just then rising to celebrity in France. His writings began to 
attract the attention of literary men throughout Europe. Fritz, 
in his youthful enthusiasm, was charmed by them. In the lat- 
ter part of June, 1729, a courier brought the intelligence to Ber- 
lin that George I. had suddenly died of apoplexy. He was on 
a journey to Hanover when he was struck down on the road. 
Almost insensible, he was conveyed, on the full gallop, to Osna- 
briick, where his brother, who was a bishop, resided, and where 
medical aid could be obtained. But the shaft was fatal. At 
midnight his carriage reached Osnabrtick. The old man, sixty- 
seven years of age, was heard to murmur, " It is all over with 
me," and his spirit passed away to the judgment. 

The death of George I. affected the strange Frederick William 
very deeply. He not only shed tears, but, if we may be par- 
doned the expression, blubbered like a child. His health seemed 

D 



50 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

to fail, and hypochondria, in its most melancholy form, tormented 
him. As is not unusual in such cases, he became excessively re- 
ligious. Every enjoyment was deemed sinful, if we except the 
indulgence in an ungovernable temper, which the self-righteous 
king made no attempt to curb. Wilhelmina, describing this 
state of things with her graphic pen, writes : 

" He condemned all pleasures ; damnable all of them, he said. 
You were to speak of nothing but the Word of God only. All 
other conversation was forbidden. It was always he who car- 
ried on the improving talk at table, where he did the office of 
reader, as if it had been a refectory of monks. The king treated 
us to a sermon every afternoon. His valet de chambre gave 
out a psalm, which we all sang. You had to listen to this ser- 
mon with as much devout attention as if it had been an apos- 
tle's. My brother and I had all the mind in the world to laugh. 
We tried hard to keep from laughing, but often we burst out. 
Thereupon reprimand, with all the anathemas of the Church 
hurled on us, which we had to take with a contrite, penitent air 
— a thing not easy to bring your face to at the moment." 

In this frame of mind, the king began to talk seriously of ab- 
dicating in favor of Frederick, and of retiring from the cares of 
state to a life of religious seclusion in his country seat at Wus- 
terhausen. He matured his plan quite to the details. Wilhel- 
mina thus describes it : 

" He used to say that he would reserve for himself ten thou- 
sand crowns a year, and retire with the queen and his daughters 
to Wusterhausen. * There,' added he, ' I will pray to God, and 
manage the farming economy, while my wife and girls take care 
of the household matters. You, Wilhelmina, are cl'ever; I will 
give you the inspection of the linen, which you shall mend and 
keep in order, taking good charge of laundry matters. Freder- 
ica, who is miserly, shall have charge of all the stores of the 
house. Charlotte shall go to market and buy our provisions. 
My wife shall take charge of the little children and of the 
kitchen.' " 

At that time the family consisted of nine children. Next to 
Wilhelmina and Fritz came Frederica, thirteen ; Charlotte, elev- 
en ; Sophie Dorothee, eight ; Ulrique, seven ; August Wilhelm, 
five ; Amelia, four ; and Henry, a babe in arms. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 51 

Some of the courtiers, in order to divert the king from his 
melancholy, and from these ideas of abdication, succeeded in im- 
pressing upon him the political necessity of visiting Augustus, 
the King of Poland, at Dresden. The king did not intend to 
take Fritz with him. But Wilhelmina adroitly whispered a 
word to Baron Suhm, the Polish embassador, and obtained a 
special invitation for the Crown Prince. It is a hundred miles 
from Berlin to Dresden — a distance easily traversed by post in 
a day. It was the middle of January, 1728, when the Prussian 
king reached Dresden, followed the day after by his son. They 
were sumptuously entertained for four weeks in a continuous 
round of magnificent amusements, from which the melancholic 
King of Prussia recoiled, but could not well escape. 

Augustus, King of Poland, called "Augustus the Strong," was 
a man of extraordinary physical vigor and muscular strength. 
It was said that he could break horseshoes with his hands, and 
crush half-crowns between his finger and thumb. He was an 
exceedingly profligate man, introducing to his palaces scenes of 
sin and shame which could scarcely have been exceeded in Rome 
in the most corrupt days of the Csesars. Though Frederick 
William, a stanch Protestant, was a crabbed, merciless man, 
drinking deeply and smoking excessively, he was irreproachable 
in morals, according to the ordinary standard. Augustus, nom- 
inally a Catholic, and zealously advocating political Catholicism, 
though a good-natured, rather agreeable man, recognized no other 
law of life than his own pleasure. 

Augustus had formed apparently the deliberate resolve to 
test his visitor by the most seductive and adroitly - arranged 
temptations. But, so far as Frederick William was concerned, 
he utterly failed. Upon one occasion his Prussian majesty, when 
conducted by Augustus, whirled around and indignantly left the 
room. That evening, through his minister, Grumkow, he in- 
formed the King of Poland that if there were any repetition of 
such scenes he would immediately leave Dresden. 

Fritz, however, had not his father's strength to resist the al- 
lurements of this wicked court. He was but sixteen years of 
age. From childhood he had been kept secluded from the world, 
and had been reared under the sternest discipline. He was re- 
markably handsome, full of vivacity, which qualified him to shine 



52 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

in any society, and was heir to the Prussian monarchy. He was, 
consequently, greatly caressed, and every conceivable inducement 
was presented to him to lure him into the paths of guilty pleas- 
ure. He fell. From such a fall one never on earth recovers. 
Even though repentance and reformation come, a scar is left upon 
the soul which time can not efface. 

This visit to Dresden, so fatal to Fritz, was closed on the 12th 
of February. The dissipation of those four weeks introduced 
the Crown Prince to habits which have left an indelible stain 
upon his reputation, and which poisoned his days. Upon his 
return to Potsdam he was seized with a fit of sickness, and for 
many years his health remained feeble. But he had entered 
upon the downward course. His chosen companions were those 
who were in sympathy with his newly-formed tastes. The career 
of dissipation into which the young prince had plunged could 
not be concealed from his eagle-eyed father. The king's previ- 
ous dislike to his son was converted into contempt and hatred, 
which feelings were at times developed in almost insane ebulli- 
tions of rage. 

Still the queen-mother, Sophie Dorothee, clung to the double 
marriage. Her brother, George II., was now King of England. 
His son Fred, who had been intended for Wilhelmina, was not 
a favorite of his father's, and had not yet been permitted to go 
to England. In May, 1728, he was twenty-one j^ears of age.. He 
was living idly in Hanover, impatient to wed his cousin Wil- 
helmina, who was then nineteen years of age. He seems to 
have secretly contemplated, in conference with Wilhelmina's 
mother, Sophie Dorothee, a trip incognito to Berlin, where he 
would marry the princess clandestinely, and then leave it with 
the royal papas to settle the difficulty the best way they could. 
The plan was not executed. Wilhelmina manifested coquettish 
indifference to the whole matter. She, however, writes that 
Queen Sophie was so confidently expecting him that " she took 
every ass or mule for his royal highness." 

In May the King of Poland returned the visit of Frederick 
William. He came with a numerous retinue and in great splen- 
dor. During the past year his unhappy wife had died ; and he, 
then fifty-five years of age, was seeking to bargain for the hand 
of Wilhelmina, hoping, by an alliance with Prussia, to promote 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 53 

some of his political schemes. The wicked old Polish king was 
much broken by age and his " terrible debaucheries." He had 
recently suffered the amputation of two toes from an ulcerated 
foot, which no medical skill could cure. He was brought into 
the palace at Berlin in a sedan, covered with red velvet embroid- 
ered with gold. Wilhelmina had no suspicion of the object of 
his visit, and was somewhat surprised by the intensity of his 
gaze and his glowing compliments. Diplomatic obstacles arose 
which silenced the question of the marriage before Wilhelmina 
knew that it had been contemplated. 

Fritz had been for some time confined to his chamber and to 
his bed. He was now getting out again. By his mother's per- 
suasion he wrote to his aunt, Queen Caroline of England, ex- 
pressing, in the strongest terms, his love for her daughter the 
Princess Amelia, and his unalterable determination never to mar- 
ry unless he could lead her to the altar. Though Frederick Wil- 
liam knew nothing of these intrigues, he hated his son with daily 
increasing venom. Sometimes, in a surly fit, he would not speak 
to him or recognize him. Again he would treat him with stud- 
ied contempt, at the table refusing to give him any food, leaving 
him to fast while the others were eating. Not unfrequently, 
according to Wilhelmina's account, he even boxed his ears, and 
smote him with his cane. Wilhelmina gives us one of the let- 
ters of her brother to his father about this time, and the charac- 
teristic paternal answer. Frederick writes, under date of Sep- 
tember llj 1728, from Wusterhausen : 

" My dear Papa, — I have not, for a long while, presumed to 
come near my dear papa, partly because he forbade me, but 
chiefly because I had reason to expect a still worse reception 
than usual ; and for fear of angering my dear papa by my pres- 
ent request, I have preferred making it in writing to him. 

" I therefore beg my dear papa to be gracious to me ; and can 
here say that, after long reflection, my conscience has not accused 
me of any the least thing with which I could reproach myself. 
But if I have, against my will and knowledge, done any thing 
which has angered my dear papa, I herewith most submissively 
beg forgiveness, and hope my dear papa will lay aside that cruel 
hatred which I can not but notice in all his treatment of me. I 



54 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

could not otherwise suit myself to it, as I always thought I had 
a gracious papa, and now have to see the contrary. I take con- 
fidence, then, and hope that my dear papa will consider all this, 
and again be gracious to me. And in the mean while I assure 
him that I will never, all my days, fail with my will ; and, not- 
withstanding his disfavor to me, remain my dear papa's most 
faithful and obedient servant and son, Frederick." 

The returning messenger took back the following reply. It 
was, as usual, ungrammatical, miserably spelled, and confused. 
Contemptuously the king spoke of his son in the third person, 
writing lie and Ms instead of you and yours. Abruptly he com- 
mences : 

" His obstinate perverse disposition which does not love his 
father ; for when one does every thing, and really loves one's fa- 
ther, one does what the father requires, not while he is there to 
see it, but when his back is turned too. For the rest he knows 
very well that I can endure no effeminate fellow who has no hu- 
man inclination in him ; who puts himself to shame, can not ride 
or shoot ; and, withal, is dirty in his person, frizzles his hair like 
a fool, and does not cut it off. And all this I have a thousand 
times reprimanded, but all in vain, and no improvement in noth- 
ing. For the rest, haughty ; proud as a churl ; speaks to nobody 
but some few, and is not popular and affable ; and cuts grimaces 
with his face as if he were a fool ; and does my will in nothing 
but following his own whims ; no use to him in any thing else. 
This is the answer. Frederick William." 

Still the question of the marriages remained the subject of in- 
numerable intrigues. There were several claimants for the hand 
of Wilhelmina, and many nuptial alliances suggested for Fritz. 
Frederick William proposed the marriage of Wilhelmina to Fred, 
the Prince of Wales, and to let the marriage of Fritz and Amelia 
for the present remain undecided. But England promptly re- 
plied "No; both marriages or none." It is intimated by the 
ministers of the Prussian king that he was influenced in his vac- 
illating course respecting the marriages not only by his doubts 
whether the English or a German alliance would be most desir- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 55 

able, but also by avarice, as he knew not what dowry he could 
secure with the English princess, and by jealousy, as he was very 
unwilling to add to the importance and the power of his hated 
son Fritz. He also disliked extremely his brother-in-law, 
George II.* 

About the middle of January, 1729, the king went upon a 
hunt with his companions, taking with him Fritz, who he knew 
detested the rough barbaric sport. This hunting expedition to 
the wilds of Brandenburg and Pommern was one of great re- 
nown. Three thousand six hundred and two wild swine these 
redoubtable Mmrods boasted as the fruits of their prowess. 
Frederick William was an economical prince. He did not allow 
one pound of this vast mass of wild pork to be wasted. Every 
man, according to his family, was bound to take a certain portion 
at a fixed price. From this fierce raid through swamps and jun- 
gles in pursuit of wild boars the king returned to Potsdam. 
Soon after he was taken sick. Having ever been a hard drinker, 
it is not strange that his disease proved to be the gout. He was 
any thing but an amiable patient. The pangs of the disease ex- 
torted from him savage growls, and he vented his spleen upon 
all who came within the reach of his crutch or the hearing of his 
tongue. Still, even when suffering most severely, he never omit- 
ted any administrative duties. His secretaries every morning 
came in with their papers, and he issued his orders with his cus- 
tomary rigorous devotion to business. It was remarked that 
this strange man would never allow a profane expression or an 
indelicate allusion in his presence. This sickness lasted five 
weeks, and Wilhelmina writes, " The pains of Purgatory could 
not equal those which we endured." 

During this sickness a very curious scene occurred, character- 
istic of the domestic life of this royal family. The second daugh- 
ter, Frederica Louisa, " beautiful as an angel, and a spoiled child 
of fifteen," was engaged to the Marquis of Anspach. We will 
allow Wilhelmina to describe the event which took place at the 

* "Frederick William and George II., though brothers-in-law, and, in a manner, brought up 
together, could never endure each other, even when children. This personal hatred and settled 
antipathy had like to have proved fatal to their subjects. The King of England used to style 
the King of Prussia my brother the sergeant. The King of Prussia called the King of England 
my brother the player. This animosity soon infected their dealings, and did not fail to have its 
influence on the most important events." — Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg, by Freder- 
ick II., vol. ii., p. 69. 



56 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

table. It was early in March, 1729, while the king was still 
suffering from the gout : 

" At table his majesty told the queen that he had letters from 
Anspach ; the young marquis to be at Berlin in May for his 
wedding; that M. Bremer, his tutor, was just coming with the 
ring of betrothal for Louisa. He asked my sister if that gave 
her pleasure, and how she would regulate her housekeeping 
when married. My sister had got into the way of telling him 
whatever she thought, and home truths sometimes, without his 
taking it ill. She answered, with her customary frankness, that 
she would have a good table, which should be delicately served, 
and, added she, l which shall be better than yours. And if I 
have children I will not maltreat them like you, nor force them 
to eat what they have an aversion to.' 

" l What do you mean by that V replied the king ; i what is 
there wanting at my table V 

" ' There is this wanting,' she said, ' that one can not have 
enough; and the little there is consists of coarse pot-herbs that 
nobody can eat.' 

" The king, as was not unnatural, had begun to get angry at 
her first answer. This last put him quite in a fury. But all his 
anger fell on my brother and me. He first threw a plate at my 
brother's head, who ducked out of the way. He then let fly an- 
other at me, which I avoided in like maimer. A hail-storm of 
abuse followed these first hostilities. He rose into a passion 
against the queen, reproaching her with the bad training which 
she gave her children, and, addressing my brother, said, 

" ' You have reason to curse your mother, for it is she who 
causes your being an ill-governed fellow. I had a preceptor,' 
continued he, ' who was an honest man. I remember always a 
story which he told me in his youth. There was a man at Car- 
thage who had been condemned to die for many crimes he had 
committed. While they were leading him to "execution he de- 
sired he might speak to his mother. They brought his mother. 
He came near, as if to whisper something to her, and bit away a 
piece of her ear. " I treat you thus," said he, " to make you an 
example to all parents who take no heed to bring up their chil- 
dren in the practice of virtue." Make the application,' contin- 
ued he, always addressing my brother ; and, getting no answer 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



57 




ROYALTY AT DINNER. 



from him, he again set to abusing us till he could speak no lon- 
ger. 

" We rose from table. As we had to pass near him in going 
out, he aimed a great blow at me with his crutch, which, if I had 
not jerked away from it, would have ended me. He chased me 
for a while in his wheel-chair, but the people drawing it gave 
me time to escape to the queen's chamber." 

That evening Wilhelmina was taken sick with burning fever 
and severe pain. Still she was compelled to rise from her bed 
and attend a court party. The next morning she was worse. 
The king, upon being told of it, exclaimed gruffly, " 111 ? I will 



58 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

cure you !" and compelled her to swallow a large draught of 
wine. Soon her sickness showed itself to be small-pox. Great 
was the consternation of her mother, from the fear that, even 
should she survive, her beauty would be so marred that the En- 
glish prince would no longer desire her as his bride. Fortu- 
nately she escaped without a scar. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SUFFERINGS OF FRITZ AND WILHELMFNA. 

The King an Artist. — Cruel Exactions of the King. — Conflicts of Etiquette. — Quarrel with 
George II. — Nuptial Intrigues. — Energetic Action of Frederick William. — Marriage of Fred- 
erica Louisa. — Fritz and his Flute. — Wrath of the King. — Beats Wilhelmina and Fritz. — 
Attempts to strangle Fritz. — The Hunt at Wusterhausen. — Intrigues in reference to the 
Double Marriage.— Anguish of Wilhelmina.— Cruelty of her Mother.— Resolve of Fritz to 
escape to England. 

While Frederick William was confined to his room, torment- 
ed by the gout, he endeavored to beguile the hours in painting 
in oil. Some of these paintings still exist, with the epigraph, 
" Painted by Frederick William in his torments." Wilhelmina 
writes : 

" For the most part, one of his own grenadiers was the model 
from which he copied. And when the portrait had more color 
in it than the original, he was in the habit of coloring the cheeks 
of the soldier to correspond with the picture. Enchanted with 
the fruits of his genius, he showed them to his courtiers, and 
asked their opinion concerning them. As he would have been 
very angry with any one who had criticised them, he was quite 
sure of being gratified with admiration. 

" ' Well,' said he one day to an attendant, who was extolling 
the beauties of one of his pictures, ' how much do you think that 
picture would bring at a sale V 

"'Sire, it would be cheap at a hundred ducats.' 

"'You shall have it for fifty,' said the king, ' because you are 
a good judge, and I am therefore anxious to do you a favor.' 

"The poor courtier," Wilhelmina adds, " obliged to become 
possessor of this miserable performance, and to pay so dear for 
it, determined for the future to be more circumspect in his ad- 
miration." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 59 

While the king was thus suffering the pangs of the gout, his 
irascibility vented itself upon his wife and children. " We were 
obliged," says Wilhelruina, " to appear at nine o'clock in the 
morning in his room. We dined there, and did not dare to leave 
it even for a moment. Every day was passed by the king in 
invectives against my brother and myself. He no longer called 
me any thing but ' the English blackguard.' My brother was 
named the i rascal Fritz.' He obliged us to eat and drink the 
things for which we had an aversion. Every day was marked 
by some sinister event. It was impossible to raise one's eyes 
without seeing some unhappy people tormented in one way or 
other. The king's restlessness did not allow him to remain in 
bed. He had himself placed in a chair on rollers, and was thus 
dragged all over the palace. His two arms rested upon crutches, 
which supported them. We always followed this triumphal 
car, like unhappy captives who are about to undergo their sen- 
tence." 

We have now reached the summer of 1729. George II. was 
a weak-minded, though a proud, conceited man, who, as King of 
England, assumed airs of superiority which greatly annoyed 
his irascible and petulant brother-in-law, Frederick William. 
Flushed with his new dignity, he visited his hereditary domain 
of Hanover. The journey led him through a portion of the 
Prussian territory. Courtesy required that George II. should 
announce that intention to the Prussian king. Courtesy also re- 
quired that, as the British monarch passed over Prussian soil, 
Frederick William should furnish him with free post-horses. " I 
will furnish the post-horses," said Frederick William, " if the king 
apprise me of his intention. If he do not, I shall do nothing 
about it." George did not write. In affected unconsciousness 
that there was any such person in the world as the Prussian 
king, he crossed the Prussian territory, paid for his own post- 
horses, and did not even condescend to give Frederick William 
any notice of his arrival in Hanover. The King of Prussia, who 
could not but be conscious of the vast inferiority of Prussia to 
England, stung to the quick by this contemptuous treatment, 
growled ferociously in the Tobacco Parliament. 

The English minister at Berlin, Dubourgay, wrote to Hanover, 
urging that some notification of the king's arrival should be sent 



60 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

to the Prussian court to appease the angry sovereign. George 
replied through Lor.d Townshend that, " under the circumstances, 
it is not necessary." Thus the two kings were no longer on 
speaking terms. It is amusing, while at the same time it is hu- 
miliating, to observe these traits of frail childhood thus devel- 
oped in full-grown men wearing crowns. When private men or 
kings are in such a state of latent hostility, an open rupture is 
quite certain soon to follow. George accused Frederick William 
of recruiting soldiers in Hanover. In retaliation, he seized some 
Prussian soldiers caught in Hanoverian territory. There was an 
acre or so of land, called the " Meadow of Clamei," which both 
Hanover and Brandenburg claimed. The grass, about eight cart- 
loads, had been cut by Brandenburg, and was well dried. 

On the 28th of June, 1729, the population of Buhlitz, a Han- 
overian border village, sallied forth with carts, escorted by a 
troop of horse, and, with demonstrations both defiant and exult- 
ant, raked up and carried off all the hay. The King of Prussia 
happened to be at that time about one hundred miles distant 
from Buhlitz, at Magdeburg, reviewing his troops. He was 
thrown into a towering passion. Sophie Dorothee,Wilhelmina, 
Fritz, all felt the effects of his rage. Dubourgay writes, under 
date of July 30,1729: 

" Her majesty, all in tears, complained of her situation. The 
king is nigh losing his senses on account of the differences with 
Hanover; goes from bed to bed in the night-time, and from 
chamber to chamber, like one whose brains are turned. Took 
a fit at two in the morning lately to be off to Wusterhausen. 
Since his return he gives himself up entirely to drink. The king 
will not suffer the prince royal to sit next his majesty at table, 
but obliges him to go to the lower end, where things are so or- 
dered that the poor prince often rises without getting one bit, 
insomuch that the queen was obliged two days ago to send, by 
one of the servants who could be trusted, a box of cold fowls 
and other eatables for his royal highness' s subsisten^e " 

Frederick William, in his extreme exasperation, seriously con- 
templated challenging George II. to a duel. In his own mind 
he arranged all the details — the place of meeting, the weapons, 
the seconds. With a stern sense of justice, characteristic of the 
man, he admitted that it would not be right to cause the blood 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 61 

of his subjects to flow in a quarrel which was merely personal. 
But the " eight cart-loads of hay" had been taken under circum- 
stances so insulting and contemptuous as to expose the Prussian 
king to ridicule ; and he was firm in his determination to settle 
the difficulty by a duel. The question was much discussed in 
the Tobacco Parliament. The Prussian ministers opposed in 
vain. " The true method, I tell you," said the king, " is the duel, 
let the world cackle as it may." 

But at length one of the counselors, Baron Borck, urged the 
following consideration : u Swords will be the weapons used. 
Your majesty has been very sick, is now weak, and also crippled 
with gout. The King of England is in health and vigor. There 
is great danger that your majesty may be worsted in the com- 
bat. That would render matters tenfold worse." 

The king was staggered. War seemed the only alternative. 
But war would empty his money-casks, disfigure his splendid 
troops, and peril the lives even of his costly giants. One of these 
men, James Kirkman, picked up in the streets of London, cost 
the king six thousand dollars "before he could be inveigled, 
shipped, and brought to hand." Nearly all had cost large sums 
of money. Such men were too valuable to be exposed to dan- 
ger. Frederick William was in a state of extreme nervous ex- 
citement, There was no rest for him night or day. His deep 
potations did not calm his turbulent spirit. War seemed immi- 
nent. Military preparations were in vigorous progress. Ovens 
were constructed to bake ammunition bread. Artillery was 
dragged out from the arsenals. It was rumored that the Prus- 
sian troops were to march immediately upon the duchy of Meck- 
lenburg, which was then held by George II. as an appendage to 
Hanover. 

All thoughts of the double marriage were for the moment re- 
linquished. The Czar of Russia had a son and a daughter. It 
was proposed to marry Wilhelmina to the son and Fritz to the 
daughter, and thus to secure a Kussian instead of an English al- 
liance. Harassed by these difficulties, Frederick William grew 
increasingly morose, venting his spite upon his wife and children. 
Fritz seriously contemplated escaping from his father's abuse by 
flight, and to take refuge with his uncle George in England, and 
thus to secure his marriage with Amelia. The portraits of the 



62 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




WILHELMINA. 



princess which he had seen proved her to be very beautiful. All 
reports pronounced her to be as lovely in character as in person. 
He was becoming passionately attached to her. Wilhelmina 
was his only confidante. Regard for her alone restrained him 
from attempting to escape. " He would have done so long ago," 
writes Dubourgay, under date of August 11, 1729, "were it not 
for his sister, upon whom the whole weight of his father's re- 
sentment would then fall. Happen what will, therefore, he is 
resolved to share with her all the hardships which the king, his 
father, may be pleased to put upon her." 

One night, about the middle of August, as the king was toss- 
ing restlessly upon his pillow, he sprang from his bed, exclaim- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 63 

ing " Eureka ! I now see what will bring a settlement." Im- 
mediately a special messenger was dispatched, with terms of 
compromise, to Kannegiesser, the king's embassador at Hanover. 
We do not know what the propositions were. But the king 
was exceedingly anxious to avoid war. He had, in many re- 
spects, a very stern sense of justice, and would not do that which 
he considered to be wrong. When he abused his family or oth- 
ers he did not admit that he was acting unjustly. He assumed, 
and with a sort of fanatical conscientiousness, detestable as it 
was, that he was doing right ; that they deserved the treatment. 
And now he earnestly desired peace, and was disposed to pre- 
sent the most honorable terms to avert a war. 

Kannegiesser, at Hanover, received the king's propositions for 
reconciliation at ten o'clock in the morning of the 15th of Au- 
gust, 1729. George II. was then absent on a hunting excursion. 
The Prussian embassador called immediately at the council- 
chamber of the Hanoverian court, and informed M. Hartoff, the 
privy secretary, that he wished an audience with the ministry, 
then in session, to make a proposition to them from the Prussian 
court. Hartoff, who had met Kannegiesser in a room adjoining 
the council-chamber, reported the request to the council, and re- 
turned with the disrespectful answer that " M. Kannegiesser 
must defer what he has to say to some other time." 

'The Prussian minister condescended then so importunately to 
urge an audience* in view of the menacing state of affairs, that 
M. Hartoff returned to the council-chamber, and in seven minutes 
came back with an evasive answer, still refusing to grant an au- 
dience. The next day M. Kannegiesser called again at the coun- 
cil-chamber. " I let them know in the mildest terms," he writes 
in his dispatch home, " that I desired to be admitted to speak 
with them, which was refused me a second time." He then in- 
formed M. Hartoff that the Prussian court expected a definite 
answer to some propositions which had previously been sent to 
the council at Hanover ; that he would remain two days to re- 
ceive it ; that, in case he did not receive it, he would call again, 
to remind them that an answer was desired. 

The next day M. Hartoff called at the residence of M. Kanne- 
giesser, and informed him "that the ministers, understanding 
that he designed to ask an audience to-morrow to remind them 



64: FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

of the answer which he demanded, wished to say that such ap- 
plications were not customary among sovereign princes; that 
they dared not treat farther in that affair with him ; that, as soon 
as they received instructions from his Britannic majesty, they 
would communicate to him the result." 

The Prussian minister replied that he could not conceive why 
he should be refused an audience ; that he should not fail to be 
at the council-chamber at eleven o'clock the next day to receive 
an answer to the proposals already made, and also to the propo- 
sals which he was prepared to make. He endeavored to inform 
Hartoff of the terms of compromise which the Prussian king was 
ready to present. But Hartoff refused to hear him, declaring 
that he had positive orders not to listen to any thing he had to 
say upon the subject. We will give the conclusion in the words 
of the Prussian minister, as found in his dispatch of the 18th of 
August, 1729: 

61 At eleven this day I went to the council-chamber for the 
third time, and desired Secretary Hartoff to prevail with the 
ministry to allow me to speak with them, and communicate what 
the King of Prussia had ordered me to propose. Herr von Har- 
toff gave them an account of my request, and brought me, for 
answer, that I must wait a little, because the ministers were not 
yet all assembled ; which I did. But after having made me stay 
almost an hour, and after the president of the council was come, 
Herr von Hartoff came out to me and repeated what he had said 
yesterday, in very positive and absolute terms, that the ministers 
were resolved not to see me, and had expressly forbid him tak- 
ing any paper at my hands. 

" To which I replied, that this was very hard usage, and the 
world would see how the King of Prussia would relish it. But 
having strict orders from his majesty, my most gracious master, 
to make a declaration to the ministers of Hanover in his name, 
and finding that Herr von Hartoff would neither receive it nor 
take a copy of it, I had only to tell him that I was under the neces- 
sity of leaving it in writing, and had brought the paper with me ; 
and that now, as the council were pleased to refuse to take it, I 
was obliged to leave the said declaration on a table in an adjoin- 
ing room, in the presence of Herr von Hartoff and other secreta- 
ries of the council, whom I desired to lay it before the ministry. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 65 

" After this I went home, but had scarcely entered my apart- 
ment when a messenger returned me, by order of the ministers, 
the declaration, still sealed as I left it ; and perceiving that I 
was not inclined to receive it, he laid it on my table, and imme- 
diately left the house." 

Having met with this repulse, Kannegiesser returned to Ber- 
lin with the report. Frederick William was exasperated in the 
highest degree by such treatment from a brother-in-law whom 
he both hated and despised. He had at his command an army 
in as perfect condition, both in equipment and drill, as Europe 
had ever seen. Within a week's time forty-four thousand troops, 
horse, foot, and artillery, were rendezvoused at Magdeburg. 
Fritz was there, looking quite soldierly on his proud charger, at 
the head of his regiment of the giant guard. Vigorously they 
were put upon the march. George II., who had already in his 
boyhood felt the weight of Frederick William's arm, and who 
well knew his desperate energy when once roused, was terrified. 
He had no forces in Hanover which could stand for an hour in 
opposition to the army which the Prussian king was bringing 
against him. 

War between Prussia and England might draw all the neigh- 
boring nations into the conflict. There was excitement in every 
continental court. The Pope, it is reported, was delighted. " He 
prays," says Carlyle, " that Heaven would be graciously pleased 
to foment and blow up to the proper degree this quarrel be- 
tween the two chief heretical powers, Heaven's chief enemies, 
whereby holy religion might reap a good benefit." 

In the general alarm, France, Holland, and other neighboring 
courts interposed and called loudly for a settlement. Frederick 
William had never wished for war. George II. was thoroughly 
frightened. As it was certain that he would be severely chas- 
tised, he was eager to escape from the difficulty through the me- 
diation of others. An arbitration was agreed upon, and the 
quarrel was settled without bloodshed. 

On the 8th of September Fritz returned to Potsdam from this 
his first military expedition, with his regiment of giants. He 
was then seventeen years of age. His soldierly bearing had 
quite rejoiced the king, and he began to think that, after all, pos- 
sibly something might be made of Fritz. 

E 



66 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Just as these troubles were commencing, there was, in May, 
1729, a marriage in the Prussian royal family. Some two hun- 
dred miles south of Brandenburg there was, at that time, a small 
marquisate called Anspach, next in dignity to a dukedom. The 
marquis was a frail, commonplace boy of seventeen, under the 
care of a young mother, who was widowed, sick, and dying. 
Much to the dissatisfaction of Sophie Dorothee, the queen-moth- 
er, Frederick William had arranged a marriage between this 
young man, who was far from rich, and his second daughter, 
Frederica Louisa, who was then fifteen years of age.* 

Fritz went in the royal carriage, with suitable escort, to meet 
the young marquis on the Prussian frontier, as he came to his 
bridals. They returned together in the carriage to Potsdam 
with great military display. The wedding took place on the 
30th of May, 1729. It was very magnificent. Fritz was con- 
spicuous on the occasion in a grand review of the giant grena- 
diers. Wilhelmina, in her journal, speaks quite contemptuously 
of her new brother-in-law, the Marquis of Anspach, describing 
him as a foolish young fellow. It was, indeed, a marriage of 
children. The bridegroom was a sickly, peevish, undeveloped 
boy of seventeen ; and the bride was a self-willed and ungovern- 
ed little beauty of fifteen. The marriage proved a very unhap- 
py one. There was no harmony between them. Frederick 
writes : " They hate one another like the fire" (comme le feu). 
They, however, lived together in incessant petty quarrelings for 
thirty years. Probably during all that time neither one of them 
saw a happy day. 

Fritz had now attained eighteen years of age, and Wilhelmina 
twenty-one. Fritz was very fond of music, particularly of his 
flute, upon which he played exquisitely, being, however, careful 
never to sound its notes within hearing of his father. A cele- 
brated music-master from Dresden, by the name of Quantz, was 
his teacher. He came occasionally from Dresden and spent a 
week or two at Potsdam, secretly teaching the young prince. 

* "It was a marriage much beneath what this princess might have pretended to. But Fred- 
erick William loved such alliances — first, because they were at hand, and brought about without 
trouble, and thus his daughters were taken off his hands at an early age ; and, secondly, because 
to these little princes the honor of obtaining a Princess of Prussia was sufficient, whereas great 
sovereigns would have required a more considerable dower than the avaricious habits of Fred- 
erick William permitted him to give." — Life of Frederick II. , by Lord Dover. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 67 

The mother of Fritz was in warm sympathy with her son, and 
aided him in all ways in her power in this gratification. Still it 
was a very hazardous measure. The fierce old king was quite 
uncertain in his movements. He might at any hour appear at 
Potsdam, and no one could tell to what lengths, in case of a dis- 
covery, he might go in the intensity of his rage. Fritz had an 
intimate friend in the army, a young man of about his own age, 
one Lieutenant Katte, who, when Fritz was with his music-teach- 
er, was stationed on the look-out, that he might give instant 
warning in case there were any indications of the king's approach. 
His mother also was prepared, when Quantz was at Potsdam, 
promptly to dispatch a messenger to her son in case she sus- 
pected his father of being about to turn his steps in that direc- 
tion. 

Fritz, having thus established his outposts, was accustomed 
to retire to his room with his teacher, lay aside his tight-fitting 
Prussian military coat, which he detested, and called his shroud, 
draw on a very beautiful, flowing French dressing-gown of scar- 
let, embroidered with gold, and decorated with sash and tags, 
and, with his hair dressed in the most fashionable style of the 
French court, surrender himself to the indulgence of his own 
luxurious tastes for sumptuous attire as well as for melodious 
sounds. He was thus, one day, in the height of his enjoyment, 
taking his clandestine music-lesson, when Lieutenant Katte came 
rushing into the room in the utmost dismay, with the announce- 
ment that the king was at the door„ The wily and ever-suspi- 
cious monarch had stolen the march upon them. He was about 
to make his son a very unwelcome surprise visit. 

A bomb bursting in the room could scarcely have created a 
greater panic. Katte and Quantz seized the flutes and music- 
books, and rushed into a wood-closet, where they stood quaking 
with terror. Fritz threw off his dressing-gown, hurried on his 
military coat, and sat down at the table, affecting to be deeply 
engaged with his books. The king, frowning like a thunder- 
cloud — for he always frowned when he drew near Fritz — burst 
into the room. The sight of the frizzled hair of his son "kindled 
the paternal wrath into a tornado pitch." The king had a won- 
derful command of the vocabulary of abuse, and was heaping 
epithets of vituperation upon the head of the prince, when he 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE DRESSING-GOWN. 



caught sight of the dressing-gown behind a screen. He seized 
the glittering garment, and, with increasing outbursts of rage, 
crammed it into the fire. Then searching the room, he collected 
all the French books, of which Fritz had quite a library, and, 
sending for a bookseller near by, ordered him to take every vol- 
ume away, and sell them for what they would bring. For more 
than an hour the king was thus raging, like a maniac, in the 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 69 

apartment of his son. Fortunately lie did not look into the 
wood-closet. Had he done so, both Quantz and Katte would 
have been terribly beaten, even had they escaped being sent im- 
mediately to the scaffold. 

" The king," writes Wilhelmina, " almost caused my brother 
and myself to die of hunger. He always acted as carver, and 
served every body except us. When, by chance, there remained 
any thing in the dish, he spit in it, to prevent our eating of it. 
We lived entirely upon coffee, milk, and dried cherries, which 
ruined our health. I was nourished with insults and invectives, 
and was abused all day long, in every possible manner, and be- 
fore every body. The king's anger went so far against my broth- 
er and myself that he drove us from him, forbidding us to ap- 
pear in his presence except at meals, 

" The queen had contrived in her bedroom a sort of labyrinth 
of screens, so arranged that I could escape the king without be- 
ing seen, in case he suddenly entered. One day the king came 
and surprised us. I wished to escape, but found myself embar- 
rassed among these screens, of which several fell, and prevented 
my getting out of the room. The king was at my heels, and 
tried to catch hold of me in order to beat me. Not being able 
any longer to escape, I placed myself behind my governess. The 
king advanced so much that she was obliged to fall back, but, 
finding herself at length near the chimney, she was stopped. I 
found myself in the alternative of bearing the fire or the blows. 
The king overwhelmed me with abuse, and tried to seize me by 
the hair. I fell upon the floor. The scene would have had a 
tragical end had it continued, as my clothes were actually begin- 
ning to take fire. The king, fatigued with crying out and with 
his passion, at length put an end to it and went away." 

These sufferings bound the brother and sister very intimately 
together. " This dear brother," Wilhelmina writes, " passed all 
his afternoons with me. We read and wrote together, and oc- 
cupied ourselves in cultivating our minds. The king now never 
saw my brother without threatening him with the cane. Fritz 
repeatedly told me that he would bear any thing from the king 
except blows ; but that, if he ever came to such extremities with 
him, he would regain his freedom by flight." 

On the 10th of December, 1729, Dubourgay writes in his jour- 



70 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

nal : " His Prussian majesty can not bear the sight of either the 
prince or the princess royal. The other day he asked the prince, 
'Kalkstein makes you English, does not heV To which the 
prince answered, ' I respect the English, because I know the peo- 
ple there love me.' Upon which the king seized him by the 
collar, struck him fiercely with his cane, and it was only by su- 
perior strength that the poor prince escaped worse. There is a 
general apprehension of something tragical taking place before 
long." 

Wilhelmina gives the following account of this transaction, as 
communicated to her by her brother : " As I entered the king's 
room this morning, he first seized me by the hair and then threw 
me on the floor, along which, after having exercised the vigor of 
his arm upon my unhappy person, he dragged me, in spite of all 
my resistance, to a neighboring window. His intention appar- 
ently was to perform the office of the mutes of the seraglio, for, 
seizing the cord belonging to the curtain, he placed it around 
my neck. I seized both of his hands, and began to cry out. A 
servant came to my assistance, and delivered me from his hands." 

In reference to this event, the prince wrote to his mother from 
Potsdam, " I am in the utmost despair. What I had always ap- 
prehended has at last come on me. The king has entirely for- 
gotten that I am his son. This morning I came into his room 
as usual. At the first sight of me he sprang forward, seized -me 
by the collar, and struck me a shower of blows with his rattan. 
I tried in vain to screen myself, he was in so terrible a rage, al- 
most out of himself It was only weariness that made him give 
up. I am driven to extremity. I have too much honor to en- 
dure such treatment, and I am resolved to put an end to it in 
one way or another." { 

Wilhelmina well understood that her brother contemplated 
running away, escaping, if possible, to England. We have men- 
tioned that the young prince, after his return from Dresden, had 
become quite dissipated. The companions he chose were wild 
young army officers of high birth, polished address, and, in god- 
less lives, fashionable men of the world Lieutenant Katte was 
a genteel man of pleasure. Another of his bosom companions, 
Lieutenant Keith, a young man of illustrious lineage, was also a 
very undesirable associate for any young man whose principles 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




A ROYAL EXECUTIONER. 



of virtue were not established* Of Keith and Katte, the two 
most intimate friends of Fritz, Wilhelmina writes, about this 
time: 

"Lieutenant Keith had been gone some time, stationed in 
Wesel with his regiment. Keith's departure had been a great 
joy to me, in the hope my brother would now lead a more reg- 
ular life. But it proved quite otherwise. A second favorite, and 
a much more dangerous, succeeded Keith. This was a young 
man of the name of Katte, captain lieutenant in the regiment 

* "The sad truth, dimly indicated, is sufficiently visible. His life for the next four or five 
years was extremely dissolute. Poor young man, he has got into a disastrous course ; consorts 
chiefly with debauched young fellows, as Lieutenants Katte, Keith, and others of their stamp, 
who lead him on ways not pleasant to his father, nor conformable to the laws of this universe. 
Health, either of body or mind, is not to be looked for in his present way of life. The bright 
young soul, with its fine strengths and gifts wallowing like a rhinoceros in the mud bath. Some 
say it is wholesome for a human soul ; not Ave." — Carlyle, ii., p. 21. 



72 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Gens cPArmes. He was highly connected in the army. His 
mother was daughter of Field-marshal Wartensleben. General 
Katte, his father, had sent him to the universities, and afterward 
to travel, desiring that he should be a lawyer. But, as there 
was no favor to be hoped for out of the army, the young man 
found himself at last placed there, contrary to his expectation. 
He continued to apply himself to studies. He had wit, book- 
culture, and acquaintance with the world. The good company 
which he continued to frequent had given him polite manners 
to a degree then rare in Berlin. His physiognomy was rather 
disagreeable than otherwise. A pair of thick black eyebrows 
almost covered his eyes. His look had in it something omin- 
ous, presage of the fate he met with. A tawny skin, torn by 
small-pox, increased his ugliness. He affected the freethinker, 
and carried libertinism to excess. A great deal of ambition and 
headlong rashness accompanied this vice. Such a favorite was 
not the man to bring back my brother from his follies." 

Early in January, 1730, the king, returning from a hunt at 
Wusterhausen, during which he had held a drinking carouse 
and a diplomatic interview with the King of Poland, announced 
his intention of being no longer annoyed by matrimonial ar- 
rangements for Wilhelmina, He resolved to abandon the En- 
glish alliance altogether,' unless an immediate and unequivocal 
assent were given by George II. for the marriage of Wilhelmina 
with the Prince of Wales, without any compact for the marriage 
of Fritz with the Princess Amelia. Count Finckenstein, Baron 
Grumkow, and General Borck were sent to communicate this, 
the king's unalterable resolve, to the queen. The first two were 
friends of the queen. Grumkow was understood to be the in- 
stigator of the king. Wilhelmina chanced to be with her moth- 
er when the gentlemen announced themselves as the bearers of 
a very important message from the king to her majesty. Wil- 
helmina trembled, and said in a low tone to her mother, " This 
regards me. I have a dreading." " No matter," the worn and 
weary mother replied ; " one must have firmness, and that is not 
what I shall want." The queen retired with the ministers to 
the audience-chamber. 

There they informed her that they had each received a letter 
the night before from the king, the contents of which they were 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 73 

forbidden, under penalty of death, from communicating to any 
one but to her. The king wished them to say to her majesty 
that he would no longer endure her disobedience in reference to 
the marriage of Wilhelmina ; that, in case this disobedience con- 
tinued, there should be an entire separation between him and 
his wife — a divorce — and that she and her daughter should both 
be banished to the chateau of Oranienburg, about twenty miles 
from Berlin, and there held in close imprisonment. The king 
was willing that Sophie Dorothee should write once more, and 
only once more, to her brother, George II., and demand of him a 
categorical answer, yes or no, whether he would consent to the 
immediate marriage of the Prince of Wales and Wilhelmina. 
The king would wait a fortnight for an answer, or, if the winds 
were contrary, three weeks ; but not a day more. Should no 
answer in that time be returned, or a negative or an evasive an- 
swer, then Wilhelmina was to make her immediate choice of a 
husband between either the Duke of Weissenfels or the Marquis 
of Schwedt, and to be married without dela}^.* 

Weissenfels was a small duchy in Saxony. The duke, so 
called by courtesy, had visited Berlin before in the train of his 
sovereign, King Augustus, when his majesty returned the visit 
of Frederick William. He was then quite captivated by the 
beauty and vivacity of Wilhelmina. He was titular duke mere- 
ly, his brother being the real duke ; and he was then living on 
his pay as officer in the army, and was addicted to deep pota- 
tions. Carlyle describes him as " a mere betitled, betasseled, eld- 
erly military gentleman of no special qualities, evil or good." 
Sophie Dorothee, noticing his attentions to Wilhelmina, deemed 
it the extreme of impudence for so humble a man to aspire to 
the hand of her illustrious child. She reproved him so severely 
that he retired from the court in deep chagrin. He never would 
have presumed to renew the suit but for the encouragement 
given by Frederick William. 

The Marquis of Schwedt was a very indifferent young man, 
living under the tutelage of his dowager mother. She was a 
cousin of the King of Prussia, and had named her son Frederick 

* "Never in any romance or stage play was young lady, without blame, without furtherance, 
and without hinderance of her own, so tormented about a settlement in life — passive she all the 
while, mere clay in the hands of the potter, and begging the universe to have the extreme good- 
ness only to leave her alone." — Carlyle. 



74 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

William. Having rendered herself conspicuously ridiculous by 
the flaunting colors of her dress, which tawdry display was in 
character with her mind, both she and her son were decidedly 
disagreeable to Wilhelmina. 

There was no alternative left the young princess. Unless 
there were an immediate consummation of the marriage contract 
with the English Frederick, she was, without delay, to choose 
between Weissenfels and Schwedt. The queen, in response to 
this communication, said, " I will immediately write to England ; 
but, whatever may be the answer, it is impossible that my daugh- 
ter should marry either of the individuals whom the king has 
designated." Baron Grumkow, who was in entire accord with 
the king, " began," says Wilhelmina, " quoting Scripture on her 
majesty, as the devil. can on occasion. 'Wives, be obedient to 
your husbands,' said he. The queen very aptly replied, i Yes ; 
but did not Bethuel, the son of Milcah, when Abraham's servant 
asked his daughter in marriage for young Isaac, answer, "We 
will call the damsel, and inquire of her mouth V It is true, wives 
must obey their husbands, but husbands must command things 
just and reasonable.' 

" The king's procedure," added the unhappy mother, " is not 
in accordance with that law. He is doing violence to my daugh- 
ter's inclinations, thus rendering her wretched for the remainder 
of her days. He wishes to give her for a husband a brutaL de- 
bauchee, a younger brother, who is nothing but an officer in the 
army of the King of Poland ; a landless man, without the means 
of living according to his rank. I will write to England. But, 
whatever the answer, I had rather a thousand times see my 
child in the grave than hopelessly miserable." 

The queen, looking reproachfully at Grumkow, remarked, " I 
know full well to whom I owe all this." She then excused her- 
self, saying that she was not well, and retired to her apartment. 
There she communicated to the anxious Wilhelmina the cruel 
message of the king. Sophie Dorothee then wrote a very earn- 
est letter to Queen Caroline, the wife of George II., imploring 
that all obstacles in the way of the marriage of Wilhelmina with 
the Prince of Wales might be withdrawn. The idea of marriage 
with either Weissenfels or Schwedt was dreadful. But, on the 
other hand, the wrath of the king, the divorce of the queen, and 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 75 

the imprisonment of both mother and daughter in the chateau 
of Oranienburg, were also dreadful. Fritz was taken into the 
councils of his mother and sister. It was decided that he should 
also write to his aunt, urging his suit for the Princess Amelia. 
It is true that George II. was ready to accede to this marriage, 
but Frederick William threw obstacles in the way. It was prob- 
ably the hope of Fritz to secure Amelia, notwithstanding his fa- 
ther's opposition. The ready pen of Wilhelmina was employed 
to draft the letter, which her brother submissively copied. As 
it was not probable, in the intricacies in which the question was 
now involved, that both marriages could take place together, 
Fritz wrote pleading for the marriage of Wilhelmina at once, 
pledging his word that he would remain faithful to the Princess 
Amelia. 

" I have already," he wrote, " given your majesty my word of 
honor never to wed any one but the Princess Amelia, your 
daughter. I here reiterate that promise, in case your majesty 
will consent to my sister's marriage." 

Sophie Dorothee dispatched a courier with these documents, 
to go with the utmost speed to England. It was a long journey 
in those days, and the winds were often contrary. A fortnight 
passed. Three weeks were gone. Still there was no answer. 
On the 25th of January, 1730 — "a day," writes Wilhelmina, 
" which I shall never forget" — Finckenstein, Borck, and Grum- 
kow again called upon the queen, with the following message 
from the king: 

"Whatever answer may now be returned from England I will 
have nothing to do with it. Whether negative, affirmative, or 
evasive, to me it shall be as nothing. You, madam, must now 
choose between the Duke of Weissenfels and the Marquis of 
Schwedt. If you do not choose, you and Wilhelmina may pre- 
pare for J3ranienburg, where you shall suffer the just penalty of 
mutiny against the authority set over you by God and men." 

The queen summoned firmness to reply : "You can inform the 
king that he will never make me consent to render my daughter 
miserable ; and that, so long as a breath of life remains in me, I 
will not permit her to take either the one or the other of these 
persons." 

Then addressing Grumkow, she said, in tones deliberate and 



76 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

intense, " For you, sir, who are the author of my misfortunes, 
may my curse fall upon you and your house. You have this 
day killed me. But I doubt not that Heaven will hear my 
prayer and avenge my wrongs." 

The queen was at this time in a delicate state of health, and 
anxiety and sorrow threw her upon a sick-bed. The king, who 
felt as much affection for " Phiekin" as such a coarse, brutal man 
could feel for any body, was alarmed ; but he remained obdurate. 
He stormed into her room, where, in the fever of her troubles, she 
tossed upon her pillow, and obstreperously declared that Wilhel-. 
mina should be married immediately, and that she must take ei- 
ther Weissenfels or Schwedt. As both mother and daughter re- 
mained firm in their refusal to choose, he resolved to decide the 
question himself. 

Accordingly, he made proposals to the Marquise of Schwedt 
that Wilhelmina should marry her son. The lady replied, in 
terms very creditable both to her head and her heart, " Such a. 
union, your majesty, would be in accordance with the supreme 
wish of my life. But how can I accept such happiness against 
the will of the princess herself? This I can positively never do." 
Here she remained firm. The raging king returned to the bed- 
side of his wife, as rough and determined as ever. He declared 
that the question was now settled that Wilhelmina was to mar- 
ry the old Duke of Weissenfels. 

The unhappy princess, distracted by these griefs, had grown 
thin and pale. It was soon rumored throughout the court that 
the king had written to Weissenfels, and that the duke was on 
his way to seize his reluctant bride. In this emergence, the 
queen's friend, Baron Borck, suggested to her that, in order to 
get rid of the obnoxious Weissenfels, she should so far yield to 
the wishes of the king as to give up the English alliance, and' 
propose a third party, who might be more acceptable to Wilhel- 
mina. But who shall this substitute be \ 

About two hundred miles south of Berlin there "was quite an 
important marquisate called Baireuth. The marquis had a good- 
looking young son, the heir-apparent, who had just returned from 
the grand tour of Europe. Upon the death of his father he 
would enter upon quite a rich inheritance. This young marquis, 
Frederick by name, Baron Borck proposed as a substitute for 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 77 

the Duke of Weissenfels. It was understood that Wilhelmina 
was such a prize that kings, even, would be eager to obtain her 
hand. There could therefore be no doubt but that the Marquis 
of Baireuth would feel signally honored by such nuptials. The 
worn and weary mother eagerly accepted this proposal. She 
suggested it to the king. Sullenly he gave it his assent, saying, 
" I will passively submit to it, but will take no active part what- 
ever in the affair. Neither will I give Wilhelmina one single 
copper for dowry." 

The queen, delighted in having obtained even this measure 
of acquiescence on the part of the king, now conferred with Wil- 
helmina. But, to her surprise and bitter disappointment, the 
young princess did not share in her mother's joy. She was not 
disposed to be thus bartered away, and presented sundry objec- 
tions. The poor mother, harassed by these interminable difficul- 
ties, now lost all patience. She broke out upon her equally un- 
happy daughter with cruel reproaches. 

11 Take, then," she exclaimed, " the Grand Turk or the Great 
Mogul for your husband. Follow your own caprice. Had I 
known you better I would not have brought so many sorrows 
upon myself. You may follow the king's bidding. It is hence- 
forth your own affair. I will no longer trouble myself about 
your concerns. And spare me, if you please, the sorrows of your 
odious presence. I can not stand it." 

Wilhelmina endeavored to reply. But the angry mother 
sternly exclaimed, ■" Silence !" and the tortured girl left the apart- 
ment, weeping bitterly. Even Fritz took his mother's part, and 
reproached Wilhelmina for not acceding to her plan. New troub- 
les were thickening around him. He was in debt. The king 
had found it out. To his father's stern questioning, Fritz, in his 
terror, had uttered deliberate falsehood. He confessed a debt 
of about eight hundred dollars, which his father had detected, 
and solemnly declared that this was all. In fact, he owed an 
additional sum of seven thousand dollars. Should the king dis- 
cover this debt, and thus detect Fritz in a lie, his rage would be 
-tremendous. The king paid the eight hundred dollar debt of 
his son, and then issued a decree declaring that to lend money 
to any princes of the blood, even to the prince royal, was a high 
crime, to be punished, not only by forfeiture of the money, but 



78 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

by imprisonment. The king had begun to suspect that Fritz 
intended to escape. He could not escape without money. The 
king therefore took special precautions that his purse should be 
ever empty, and watched him with renewed vigilance. 

While matters were in this extremity, the British minister, 
Dubourgay, and Baron Knyphausen, a distinguished Prussian 
official, dispatched Rev. Dr. Villa, a scholarly man, who had been 
Wilhelmina' s teacher of English, on a secret mission to the court 
of England, to communicate the true state of affairs, and to en- 
deavor to secure some disentanglement of the perplexities. Dr. 
Villa was a warm friend of Wilhelmina, and, in sympathy with 
her sorrows, wept as he bade her adieu. The king was in such 
ill humor that his daughter dared not appear in his presence. 
If Fritz came within reach of his father's arm he was pretty sure 
to receive a blow from his rattan. 

On the 18th of February, 1730, some affairs of state led the 
king to take a trip to Dresden to see the King of Poland. He 
decided to take Fritz with him, as he was afraid to leave him 
behind. Fritz resolved to avail himself of the opportunity which 
the journey might offer to attempt his escape. He was unwill- 
ing to do this without bidding adieu to his sister, who had been 
the partner of so many of his griefs. It was not easy to obtain 
a private interview. On the evening of the 17th of February 
as Wilhelmina, aided by her governess, was undressing for bed 
the door of the anteroom of her chamber was cautiously opened 
and a young gentleman, very splendidly dressed in French cos- 
tume, entered. Wilhelmina, terrified, uttered a shriek, and en- 
deavored to hide herself behind a screen. Her governess, Mad 
am Sonsfeld, ran into the anteroom to ascertain what such an 
intrusion meant. The remainder of the story we will give in 
the words of Wilhelmina : 

" But she returned the next moment accompanying the cava- 
lier, who was laughing heartily, and whom I recognized for my 
brother. His dress so altered him he seemed a different person. 
He was in the best humor possible. 'I am come to bid you 
farewell once more, my dear sister, 7 said he ; ' and as I know the 
friendship you have for me, I will not keep you ignorant of my 
designs. I go, and do not come back. I can not endure the 
usage I suffer. My patience is driven to an end. It is a favor- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



79 




ijill'i'MIMIl 

ii Si! 1 " 



FREDERICK AND HIS SISTER. 



able opportunity for flinging off that odious yoke. I will glide 
out of Dresden and get across to England, where, I do not doubt, 
I shall work out .your deliverance too, when I am got thither. 
So I beg you calm yourself. We shall soon meet again in places 
where joy shall succeed our tears, and where we shall have the 
happiness to see ourselves in peace, and free from these persecu- 
tions.' " 

Wilhelmina was appalled in view of the difficulty and clanger 
of the enterprise. It was a long distance from Dresden to the 
coast. Head winds might detain the vessel. The suspicious 
king would not long remain ignorant that he was missing. He 
would be pursued with energy almost demoniac. Being cap. 



80 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

tured, no one could tell how fearful would be his doom. The 
sagacious sister was right. Fritz could not but perceive the 
strength of her arguments, and gave her his word of honor that 
he would not attempt, on the present occasion, to effect his flight, 
Fritz accordingly went to Dresden with his father, and returned. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE. 



Objections to the British Alliance. — Obstinacy of the King. — Wilhelmina's Journal. — Policy 
of Frederick William and of George II. — Letter from Fritz. — The Camp of Miihlberg. — The 
Plan of Escape. — The Flight arrested. — Ungovernable Rage of the King. — Endeavors to kill 
his Son. — Arrest and Imprisonment of Fritz. — Terror of his Mother and. Sister. — Wilhelmina 
imprisoned. 

In the mean time Dr. Villa reached England. In conference 
with the British cabinet, the members deemed it very desirable, 
at all events, to effect the marriage of the Prince of Wales with 
the Prussian princess. The main consideration was that it 
would tend to detach Prussia from Germany, and secure its alli- 
ance with England. It was also a good Protestant match, and 
would promote the interests of Protestantism. The king desired 
this marriage. But he was inflexible in his resolve that both 
marriages should take place or neither. The Prussian king was 
equally inflexible in his determination that, while he would, con- 
sent to one marriage, he would not consent to both. Colonel 
Hotham, a man of good family and of some personal distinction, 
was accordingly sent, as envoy extraordinary, to Berlin, to make 
new efforts in favor of the double marriage. 

The Queen of Prussia had recently given birth* to another 
prince. She was on a bed of languor. The king was somewhat 
mollified, and was anxious to be relieved from these protracted 
difficulties. Colonel Hotham reached the palace of Charlotten- 
burg on the 2d of April, 1730, and was graciously received by 
the king. The next day quite a splendid dinner-was given in 
honor of the British envoy. All the notables who surrounded 
the table, the English and the Prussian, in accordance with the 
degrading custom of those times, drank deeply. Hotham, in his 
dispatch, without any apparent sense of shame, writes, " We all 
got immoderately drunk." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 81 

The object of Colonel Hot ham's mission was well known. The 
cordial reception he had met from the king indicated that his 
message was not an unwelcome one to his Prussian majesty. In 
the indecent hilarity of the hour, it was assumed that the mar- 
riage contract between Wilhelmina and the Prince of Wales was 
settled. Brains addled with wine gave birth to stupid jokes 
upon the subject. "A German ducat was to be exchanged for 
an English half guinea." At last, in the semi-delirium of their 
intoxication, one proposed as a toast, " To the health of Wilhel- 
mina, Princess of Wales." The sentiment was received with up- 
roarious jollity. Though all the company were in the same state 
of silly inebriation, neither the king nor the British ministers, 
Hotham and Dubourgay, for a moment lost sight of their settled 
policy. The king remained firm in his silent resolve to consent 
only to the marriage of Wilhelmina and the Prince of Wales. 
Hotham and Dubourgay could not swerve from the positive in- 
structions which they had received, to insist upon both mar- 
riages or neither. Thus, notwithstanding this bacchanal jollifi- 
cation, neither party was disposed to swerve a hair's-breadth from 
its fixed resolve, and the question was no nearer a settlement 
than before. 

Still, most of the courtly carousers did not comprehend this. 
And when the toast to Wilhelmina as Princess of Wales was re- 
ceived with such acclaim, they supposed that all doubt was at 
an end. The news flew upon the wings of the wind to Berlin. 
It was late in the afternoon of Monday, April 30. Wilhelmina 
writes : 

" I was sitting quiet in my apartment, busy with work, and 
some one reading to me, when the queen's ladies rushed in, with 
a torrent of domestics in their rear, who all bawled out, putting 
one knee to the ground, that they were come to salute the Prin- 
cess of Wales. I fairly believed these poor people had lost their 
wits. They would not cease overwhelming me with noise and 
tumult ; their joy was so great they knew not what they did. 
When the farce had lasted some time, they told me what had 
occurred at the dinner. 

" I was so little moved by it that I answered, going on with 
my work, i Is that all V which greatly surprised them. A while 

F 



82 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

after, rny sisters and several ladies came to congratulate me. I 
was much loved, and I felt more delighted at the proofs each 
gave me of that than at what had occasioned their congratula- 
tions. In the evening I went to the queen's. You ma}^ readily 
conceive her joy. On my first entrance she called me her dear 
Princess of Wales, and addressed Madam De Sonsfeld as l Mi- 
ladi.' This latter took the liberty of hinting to her that it would 
be better to keep quiet ; that the king, having yet given no no- 
tice of this business, might be provoked at such demonstration, 
and that the least trifle could still ruin all her hopes." 

The king, upon his return from Charlottenburg to Berlin, made 
no allusion whatever in his family to the matter. In the court, 
however, it was generally considered that the question, so far as 
Wilhelmina was concerned, was settled. Hotham held daily in- 
terviews with the king, and received frequent communications 
from the Prince of Wales, who appears to have been very eager 
for the consummation of the marriage. Many of these letters 
were shown to Wilhelmina. She was much gratified with the 
fervor they manifested on the part of a lover who had never yet 
seen her. In one of these letters the prince says: "I conjure 
you, my dear Hotham, get these negotiations finished. I am 
madly in love (amoureux comrrte un fou), and my impatience is 
unequaled." 

The question arises, Why was Frederick William so averse to 
the marriage of Fritz with the Princess Amelia ? Probably the 
real reason was his rooted antipathy to his son, and his conse- 
quent unwillingness to do any thing which would promote his 
interests or increase his influence. His advisers strengthened 
him in this sentiment. The English were very unpopular at 
Berlin. Their assumption of superiority over all other peoples 
was a constant annoyance. The Prussian king said to his con- 
fidential friends, 

" If the English Princess Amelia come here as the bride of my 
son, she will bring with her immense wealth. Accustomed to 
grandeur, she will look contemptuously upon our simplicity. 
With her money she can dazzle and bribe. I hate my son. He 
hates me. Aided by the gold of England, my son can get up a 
party antagonistic to me. No ! I will never, never consent to 
his marrying the Princess Amelia. If he is never married it is 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 83 

no matter. Fortunately I have other sons, and the succession 
will not be disturbed."* 

The king had made many efforts to force his son to surrender 
his rights of primogeniture, and to sign an act renouncing his 
claim to the succession of the Prussian throne in favor of his 
next brother. His only answer was, " Declare my birth illegiti- 
mate, and I will give up the throne." But the king could never 
consent to fix such a stain upon the honor of his wife. 

And why was George II. so averse to the single marriage of 
the Prince of Wales to Wilhelmina ? It is supposed that the op- 
position arose simply from his own mulish obstinacy. He hated 
his brother-in-law, the Prussian king. He was a weak, ill-tem- 
pered man; and having once said "Both marriages or none" 
nothing could induce him to swerve from that position. In such 
a difficulty, with such men, there could be no possible compro- 
mise. 

George II. was far from popular in England. There was but 
little in the man to win either affection or esteem. The Prince 
of Wales was also daily becoming more disliked. He was as- 
suming haughty airs. He was very profligate, and his associates 
were mainly actresses and opera girls. The Prussian minister 
at London, who was opposed to any matrimonial connection 
whatever between the Prussian and the English court, watched 
the Prince of Wales very narrowly, and wrote home quite unfa- 
vorable reports respecting his character and conduct. He had 
searched out the fact that Fritz had written to his aunt, Queen 
Caroline, pledging to her his word " never to marry any body in 
the world except the Princess Amelia of England, happen what 
will." This fact was reported to the king, greatly exciting his 
wrath. 

To obviate the difficulty of the Crown Prince becoming the 
head of a party in Berlin antagonistic to the king, the plan was 
suggested of having him appointed, with his English princess, 
vice-regent of Hanover, But this plan failed. Hotham now 

* The Prussian minister Reichenbach, at London, wrote to M. Grumkow, under date of 
March 14, 1730 : " Reichenbach flatters himself that the king will remain firm, and not let his 
enemies deceive him. If Grumkow and Seckendorf have opportunity, they may tell his Prus- 
sian majesty that the whole design of this court is to render his country a province dependent 
on England. When once the Princess Royal of England shall be wedded to the Prince Royal 
of Prussia, the English, by that means, will form such a party at Berlin that they will altogether 
tie his Prussian majesty's hands. n 



84 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

became quite discouraged. He wrote home, on the 22d of April, 
that he had that day dined with the king; that the Crown 
Prince was present, but dreadfully dejected, and that great sym- 
pathy was excited in his behalf, as he was so engaging and so 
universally popular. He evidently perceived some indications 
of superiority in the Crown Prince, for he added, " If I am not 
much mistaken, this young prince will one day make a very con- 
siderable figure." 

After much diplomatic toil, the ultimatum obtained from Fred- 
erick William was the ever inflexible answer : " 1. The marriage 
of the Prince of Wales to Wilhelmina I consent to. 2. The mar- 
riage of the Crown Prince Frederick with the Princess Amelia 
must be postponed. I hope it may eventually take place." 

Hotham, quite indignant, sent this dispatch, dated May 13, to 
London, including with it a very earnest letter from the Crown 
Prince to his uncle, in which Fritz wrote : 

"The Crown Prince begs his Britannic majesty not to reject 
the king's proposals, whatever they may be, for his sister Wil- 
helmina's sake. For, though the Crown Prince is determined to 
lose his life sooner than marry any body but the Princess Ame- 
lia, yet, if this negotiation were broken off, his father would go 
to extremities to force him and his sister into other engagements." 

The return mail brought back, under date of May 22, the 
stereotype British answer : " Both marriages or none." Just be- 
fore the reception of this reply, as Colonel Hotham was upon 
the eve of leaving Berlin, the Crown Prince addressed to him, 
from Potsdam, the following interesting letter : 

" Monsieur, — I believe that it is of the last importance that I 
should write to you, and I am very sad to have things to say 
which I ought to conceal from all the earth. But one must take 
that bad leap, and, reckoning you among my friends, I the more 
easily resolve to open myself to you. 

" The case is this : I am treated in an unheard-of manner by 
.the king ; and I know that there are terrible things in prepara- 
tion against me touching certain letters which I wrote last win- 
ter, of which I believe you are informed. In a word, to speak 
frankly to you, the real, secret reason why the king will not con- 
sent to this marriage is, that he wishes to keep me on a low foot- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 85 

ing constantly, and to have the power of driving me mad when- 
ever the whim takes him, throughout his life. Thus he will 
never give his consent. 

" For my own part, therefore, I believe it would be better to 
conclude my sister's marriage in the first place, and not even to 
ask from the king any assurance in regard to mine, the rather as 
his word has nothing to do with it. It is enough that I here 
reiterate the promises which I have already made to the king, 
my uncle, never to take another wife than his second daughter, 
the Princess Amelia. I am a person of my word, and shall be 
able to bring about what I set forth, provided that there is trust 
put in me. I promise it to you. And now you may give your 
court notice of it, and I shall manage to keep my promise. I re- 
main yours always." 

In June, 1730, Augustus, King of Poland, had one of the most 
magnificent military reviews of which history gives any record. 
The camp of Miihlberg, as it was called, was established upon 
an undulating field, twelve miles square, on the right bank of 
the Elbe, a few leagues below Dresden. It is hardly too much 
to say that all the beauty and chivalry of Europe were gathered 
upon that field. Fabulous amounts of money and of labor were 
expended to invest the scene with the utmost sublimity of splen- 
dor. A military review had great charms for Frederick William. 
He attended as one of the most distinguished of the invited 
guests. The Crown Prince accompanied the king, as his father 
dared not leave him behind. But Fritz was exposed to every 
mortification and every species of ignominy which the ingenuity 
of this monster parent could heap upon him. 

In the presence of monarchs, of lords and ladies, of the highest 
dignitaries of Europe, the young heir apparent to the throne of 
Prussia, beautiful in person, high-spirited, and of superior genius, 
was treated by his father with studied contumely and insult. 
Every thing was done to expose him to contempt. He even 
openly flogged the prince with his rattan. It would seem that 
the father availed himself of this opportunity so to. torture the 
sensibilities of his son as to drive him to suicide. Professor 
Ranke writes : 

" In that pleasure-camp of Miihlberg, where the eyes of many 



SQ FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

strangers were directed to him, the Grown Prince was treated 
like a disobedient boy, and at one time even with blows, to make 
him feel that he was such. The enraged king, who never weigh- 
ed the consequences of his words, added mockery to his manual 
outrage. i Had I been so treated,' he said, ' by my father, I would 
have blown my brains out. But this fellow has no honor. He 
takes all that comes.' " 

It would seem that if ever there were an excuse for suicide it 
was to be found here. But what folly it would have been! 
Dark as these days were, they led the prince to a crown, and to 
achievements of whose recital the world will never grow weary. 
Fritz, goaded to madness, again adopted the desperate resolve to 
attempt an escape. A young Englishman, Captain Guy Dick- 
ens, secretary of the British embassador, Dubourgay, had become 
quite the intimate friend of the Crown Prince. They conferred 
together upon plans of escape. But the precautions adopted by 
the father were such that no plan which they could devise seem- 
ed feasible at that time. Fritz confided his thoughts to his 
friend, Lieutenant Keith, at Berlin. 

It is probable that the suspicions of the king were excited, for 
suddenly he sent Lieutenant Keith to a garrison at Wesel, at a 
great distance from Berlin, in a small Prussian province far down 
the Rhine. The three had, however, concocted the following 
plan, to be subsequently executed. Immediately after the re- 
turn from Miihlberg the king was to undertake a long journey 
to the Rhine. The Crown Prince, as usual, was to be dragged 
along with him. In this journey they would pass through Stutt- 
gart, within a few miles of Strasbourg, which was on the French 
side of the river. From Stuttgart the prince was to escape in 
disguise, on fleetest horses, to Strasbourg, and thence proceed to 
London. Colonel Hotham, who had accompanied the Prussian 
king to the camp of Miihlberg, was apprised of all this by his 
secretary. He immediately dispatched the secretary, on the 16th 
of June, to convey the confidential intelligence to London. 

At the close of these festivities at Miihlberg Frederick William 
and his suite took boat down the River Elbe to his hunting pal- 
ace at Lichtenberg. Here they killed, in a grand hunting bout, 
a thousand animals, boars and deer. The Crown Prince, dishon- 
ored by insults which he could not revenge, and stung to the 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 87 

quick by innumerable humiliations, followed, dejected, like a 
guarded captive, in the train of his father. The unhappy prince 
had but just returned to his garrison at Potsdam, where spies 
ever kept their eyes vigilantly upon him, when his friend, Cap- 
tain Guy Dickens, brought him the answer, returned from Lon- 
don, to the confidential communication of the Crown Prince to 
his uncle, the British king. The substance of the document was 
as follows : 

" Mr. Guy Dickens may give to the prince the assurance of the 
deep compassion which the king feels in view of the sad condi- 
tion in which the prince finds himself, and of the sincere desire 
of his majesty to aid, by all the means in his power, to extricate 
him. While waiting the result of some negotiations now on foot, 
his majesty is of the opinion that it would be best for the prince 
to defer for a time his present design ; that the present critical 
state of affairs in Europe do not present a favorable opportunity 
for the execution of the contemplated plan ; that the idea of re- 
tiring to France demands very careful deliberation; and that 
there is not time now to ascertain how such a step would be re- 
garded by the French court, which his majesty would think to 
be essential before he advise a prince so dear to him to with- 
draw to that country." 

Soon after this, Colonel Hotham, having received a gross in- 
sult from the king, demanded his passports. The English em- 
bassador had presented the king with a document from his court. 
Frederick William angrily threw the paper upon the floor, ex- 
claiming, " I have had enough of those things !" and, turning 
upon his heel, left the room. Colonel Hotham, a high-bred En- 
glish gentleman, could not brook such an indignity, not only to 
himself, but to his" sovereign. The passionate king had scarcely 
left the apartment before he perceived the impolicy of his con- 
duct. He tried to make amends. But Colonel Hotham, justly 
regarding it as an insult to his court, persisted in demanding his 
passports, and returned to London. The Crown Prince in vain 
begged Colonel Hotham to remain. Very properly he replied 
that the incivility was addressed to his king, and that it was for 
him only to judge what satisfaction was due for the indignity 
offered. 

All negotiation in reference to the marriages was now appar- 



S8 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ently at an end. Lieutenant Katte remained at Potsdam. In 
the absence of Lieutenant Keith he became more than ever the 
friend and confidant of the Crown Prince. Wilhelmina, aware 
of the dissipated character of Katte, mourned over this intimacy. 
The king was very much annoyed by the blunder of which he 
himself had been guilty in insulting the court of England in the 
person of its embassador. He declared, in his vexation, that he 
would never again treat in person with a foreign minister ; that 
his hot temper rendered it unsafe for him to do so. 

He informed Wilhelmina that the question of her marriage 
with the Prince of Wales was now settled forever, and that, as 
she declined taking the Duke of Weissenfels for a husband, she 
might prepare to retire to the abbey of Hereford, a kind of Prot- 
estant nunnery for ladies of quality, who, for any reason, wished 
to be buried from the world. He mercilessly resolved to make 
her the abbess of this institution. This living burial was almost 
the last situation to suit the taste of Wilhelmina. The king was 
in the worst possible humor. " He bullies and outrages his poor 
Crown Prince almost worse than ever. There have been rattan 
showers hideous to think of, descending this very week (July, 
1730) on the fine head and far into the high heart of a royal 
young man, who can not in the name of manhood endure, and 
must not in the name of sonhood resist, and vainly calls to all 
the gods to teach him what he shall do in this intolerable, inex- 
tricable state of affairs."* 

As soon as Hotham had left Berlin the Crown Prince held a 
secret midnight interview with Captain Dickens and Lieutenant 
Katte, to devise some new plan of escape during the journey to 
the Rhine, which was to commence in a few days. He made ar- 
rangements to leave all his private papers with Katte, provided 
himself with a large gray overcoat as a partial disguise, and, 
with much difficulty, obtained about a thousand ducats to defray 
his expenses. Lieutenant Keith was at Wesel. He was written 
to with the utmost secrecy, as he might be able to render effi- 
cient aid, could the Crown Prince reach him. 

On Saturday, the 15th of July, 1730, the king, with a small 
train, which really guarded Fritz, set out at an early hour from 
Potsdam on this memorable journey. Three reliable officers of 

* Carl vie. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 89 

the king occupied the same carriage with Fritz, with orders to 
keep a strict watch over him, and never to leave him alone. 
Thus, throughout the journey, one of his guards sat by his side, 
and the other two on the seat facing him. The king was not a 
luxurious traveler. He seemed to covet hardship and fatigue. 
Post-horses were provided all along the route. The meteoric 
train rushed along, scarcely stopping for food or sleep, but occa- 
sionally delayed by business of inspection, until it reached An- 
spach, where the king's beautiful daughter, then but sixteen 
years of age, resided with her uncongenial husband. Here the 
Crown Prince had some hope of escape. He endeavored to per- 
suade his brother-in-law, the young Marquis of Anspach, to lend 
him a pair of saddle-horses, and to say nothing about it. But 
the characterless young man, suspecting his brother, and dread- 
ing the wrath of his terrible father-in-law, refused, with many 
protestations of good- will. 

When near Augsburg, Fritz wrote a letter to Lieutenant Katte, 
stating that he should embrace the first opportunity to escape 
to the Hague ; that there he should assume the name of the 
Count of Alberville. He wished Katte to join him there, and 
to bring with him the overcoat and the one thousand ducats 
which he had left in his hands. On Thursday, August 3d, the 
royal party reached the little hamlet of Steinfurth, not far from 
the Rhine. Here, as was not unfrequently the case, they slept 
in barns, carefully swept and prepared for them. The usual 
hour of starting was three o'clock in the morning. 

Just after midnight, the prince, seeing his associates soundly 
asleep, cautiously rose, dressed, and crept out into the open air. 
He had secretly made arrangements with his valet, a brother of 
Lieutenant Keith, to meet him with some horses on the village 
green. He reached the green. His valet soon appeared with 
the horses. Just at that moment, one of his guard, Rochow, who 
had been aroused by a servant whom he had left secretly on the 
watch, came forward through the gloom of the night, and, stern- 
ly addressing Keith, inquired, " Sirrah, what are you doing with 
those horses V With much self-possession Keith replied, " I am 
getting the horses ready for the hour of starting." " His majes- 
ty," Rochow replied, " does not start till five o'clock. Take the 
horses directly back to the stable." 



90 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE FLIGHT ARRESTED. 



Keith, trembling in every limb, returned to the stable. Though 
Eochow pretended not to suspect any attempt at escape, it was 
manifestly pretense only. The prince had provided himself with 
a red overcoat as a disguise to his uniform, the gray one having 
been left with Katte at Potsdam. As Fritz was returning to 
the barn with Eochow, wearing this suspicious garment, they 
met the minister Seckendorf, whom Fritz and his mother thor- 
oughly hated as one of the counselors of the king. Very coolly 
and cuttingly Eochow inquired of Seckendorf, " How do you like 
his royal highness in the red overcoat?" It was a desperate 
game these men were playing ; for, should the king suddenly 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 91 

die, Fritz would surely inherit the crown, and they would be en- 
tirely at his mercy. All hope of escape seemed now to vanish, 
and the prince was quite in despair. 

The king was doubtless informed of all that had occurred. 
They reached Manheim the next night. Keith was so terrified, 
fearing that his life would be the penalty, that he there threw 
himself upon his knees before the king, confessing all, and im- 
ploring pardon. The king, in tones of intense agitation, informed 
the vigilance trio that death would be their inevitable doom if 
they allowed the prince to escape. Thus far the prince had been 
nominally free. Those who occupied the carriage with him — 
Rochow, Waldau, and Buddenbrock — had assumed to be merely 
his traveling companions. Their office of guardship had been 
scrupulously concealed. But henceforth he was regarded and 
treated as a culprit in the custody of his jailers. 

The king, smothering his wrath, did not immediately seek an 
interview with his son. But the next day, encountering him, he 
said, sarcastically, " Ah ! you are still here, then ; I thought that 
by this time you would have been in Paris." The prince, some- 
what emboldened by despair, ventured to reply, " I certainly 
could have been there had I wished it." 

At Frankfort-on-the-Main the party were to take boats to de- 
scend the river. The prince was informed that the king had 
given express orders that he should not be permitted to enter 
the town, but that he should be conducted immediately to one 
of the royal yachts. Here the king received an intercepted let- 
ter from the Crown Prince to Lieutenant Katte. Boiling with 
indignation, he stalked on board the yacht, and assailed his cap- 
tive son in the coarsest and most violent language of abuse. In 
the frenzy of his passion he seized Fritz by the collar, shook him, 
hustled him about, tore out handfuls of hair, and thrust his cane 
into his face, causing the blood to gush from his nose. " Never 
before," exclaimed the unhappy prince, pathetically, " did a Bran- 
denburg face suffer the like of this." 

The king then, having ordered his guard to watch him with 
the utmost vigilance, assuring them that their heads should an- 
swer for* it if they allowed him to escape, sent his son to another 
boat. He was prevailed upon to do so, as no one could tell to 
what length the king's ungovernable passions might lead him. 



92 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

The royal yachts glided down the Main to the Rhine, and 
thence down the Rhine to Wesel. Probably a heavier heart 
than that of the prince never floated upon that world-renowned 
stream. Lost in painful musings, he had no eye to gaze upon the 
picturesque scenes of mountain, forest, castle, and ruins through 
which they were gliding. At Bonn he had an interview with 
Seckendorf, whose influence was great with his father, and whom 
he hoped to interest in his favor. To him he said, 

" I intended to have escaped at Steinfurth. I can not endure 
the treatment which I receive from my father — his abuse and 
blows. I should have escaped long ago had it not been for the 
condition in which I should have thus left my mother and sister. 
I am so miserable that I care but little for my own life. My 
great anxiety is for those officers who have been my friends, and 
who are implicated in my attempts. If the king will promise 
to pardon them, I will make a full confession of every thing. If 
you can help me in these difficulties, I shall be forever grateful 
to you." 

It is probable that even Seckendorf was somewhat moved by 
this pathetic appeal. Fritz succeeded in sending a letter to the 
post-office, addressed to Lieutenant Keith at Wesel, containing 
simply the words " Sauvez vous ; tout est decouverf (Save your- 
self; all is found out). Keith received the letter but an hour 
or so before a colonel of gens d'armes arrived to arrest him. 
Seckendorf had an interview with the king, and seems to have 
endeavored to mitigate his wrath. He assured the infuriate 
monarch of his son's repentance, and of his readiness to make a 
full confession if his father would spare those who had been led 
by their sympathies to befriend him. The unrelenting father 
received this message very sullenly, saying that he had no faith 
that his son would make an honest confession, but that he would 
see what he had to say for himself. 

At Geldern, when within a few miles of Wesel, the king's 
wrath flamed up anew as he learned that Lieutenant Keith had 
escaped. The imperiled young officer, warned of his danger, had 
saddled his horse as if for an evening ride in the country. He 
passed out at one of the gates of the city, and, riding gently till 
darkness came, he put spurs to his horse and escaped to the 
Hague. Here, through the friendly offices of Lord Chesterfield, 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 93 

the British embassador, he embarked for England. The author- 
ities there received him kindly, and he entered the British army. 
For ten years he was heard of no more. The king dispatched 
officers in pursuit of the fugitive, and redoubled the vigilance 
with which Fritz was guarded. 

. Upon the king's arrival at Wesel he ordered his culprit son to 
be brought on shore and to be arraigned before him. It was 
Saturday evening, August 12, 1730. A terrible scene ensued. 
The despairing Crown Prince, tortured by injustice, was not dis- 
posed to humble himself before his father. Receiving no assur- 
ance that his friends would be pardoned, he evaded all attempts 
to extort from him confessions which would implicate them. 
General Mosel alone was present at this examination. 

" Why," asked the king, furiously," did you attempt to desert?" 

" I wished to escape," the prince boldly replied, " because you 
did not treat me like a son, but like an abject slave." 

" You are a cowardly deserter," the father exclaimed, " devoid 
of all feelings of honor." 

" I have as much honor as you have," the son replied ; " and I 
have only done that which I have heard you say a hundred 
times you would have done yourself had you been treated as I 
have been." 

The wrath of the king was now ungovernable. He drew his 
sword, threatening to thrust it through the heart of his son, and 
seemed upon the point of doing so, when General Mosel threw 
himself before the king, exclaiming, " Sire, you may kill me, but 
spare your son."* 

The prince was withdrawn, and placed in a room where two 
sentries watched over him with fixed bayonets. The king ma- 
lignantly assumed that the prince, being a colonel in the army 
and attempting to escape, was a deserter, whose merited doom 
was death. General Mosel urged the king not to see his son 
again, as his presence was sure to inflame his anger to so alarm- 
ing a pitch. The father did not again see him for a year and 
three days. 

A stern military commission was, however, appointed to inter- 
rogate the prince from questions drawn up by the king. The 
examination took place the next day. The prince confessed that 

* Memoires de la Margrave De Bareuth. 



94 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




FREDERICK WILLIAM ENRAGED. 



it was his intention to cross the Rhine at the nearest point, and 
to repair to Strasbourg, in France. There he intended to enlist 
incognito as a volunteer in the French army. He refused to tell 
how he obtained his money, or to make any revelations which 
would implicate his friends Katte and Keith. 

As this report was made to the king, he exclaimed, angrily, 
"Let him lie in ward, then, and await the doom which the laws 
adjudge to him. He is my colonel. He has attempted to de- 
sert. He has endeavored to induce others to desert with him. 
The law speaks plainly enough as to the penalty for such crimes." 

In the mean time, the queen and Wilhelmina, at Berlin, uncon- 
scious of the dreadful tidings they were soon to receive, were 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 95 

taking advantage of the absence of the king in seeking a few 
hours of social enjoyment. They gave a ball at the pretty little 
palace of Monbijou, on the banks of the Spree, a short distance 
out from Berlin. In the midst of the entertainment the queen 
received, by a courier, the following dispatch from Frederick 
William : 

"I have arrested the rascal Fritz. I shall treat him as his 
crime and his cowardice merit. He has dishonored me and all 
my family. So great a wretch is no longer worthy to live." 

Wilhelmina, in the following graphic narrative, describes the 
scene : " Mamma had given a ball in honor of papa's birthday. 
We recommenced the ball after supper. For six years I had 
not danced before. It was new fruit, and I took my fill of it, 
without heeding much what was passing. Madam Bulow, who, 
with others, had worn long faces all night, pleading illness when 
one noticed it, said to me several times, 

" ' It is late. I wish you had done.' 

" ' Oh dear me !' I exclaimed ; i do let me have enough of dan- 
cing this one new time. It may be long before it comes again.' 

" She returned to me an hour after, and said, with a vexed air, 
6 Will you end, then ? You are so engaged you have eyes for 
nothing.' 

"I replied, 'You are in such a humor I know not what to 
make of it.' 

" l Look at the queen, then,' she added, i and you will cease to 
reproach me.' 

"A glance which I gave that way filled me with terror. There 
sat the queen, in a corner of the room, paler than death, in low 
conference with Madam Sonsfeld and Countess Finckenstein. 
As my brother was most in my anxieties, I asked if it concerned 
h'im. Madam Bulow shrugged her shoulders, answering, i I do 
not know at all.' " 

They repaired to the carriage, which was immediately ordered 
Not a word was spoken until they reached the palace. Wilhel 
mina did not venture to ask any questions. Fearing that her 
brother was dead, she was in terrible trepidation. Having ar- 
rived at the palace, Madam Sonsfeld informed her of the con 
tents of the dispatch. 

The next morning they learned that Lieutenant Katte had 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




DESTROYING THE LETTERS. 



been arrested. All the private papers of Fritz were left, under 
Katte's charge, in a small writing-desk. These letters would 
implicate both the mother and the daughter. They were terror- 
stricken. Count Finckenstein, who was in high authority, was 
their friend. Through him, by the aid of Madam Finckenstein, 
they obtained the desk. It was locked and sealed. Despair 
stimulated their ingenuity. They succeeded in getting the let- 
ters. To destroy them and leave nothing in their place would 
only rouse to greater fury the suspicion and rage of the king. 
The letters were taken out and burned. The queen and Wil- 
helmina immediately set to work writing new ones, of a very 
different character, with which to replace them. For three days 
they thus labored almost incessantly, writing between six and 
seven hundred letters. They were so careful to avoid any thing 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 97 

which might lead to detection that paper was employed for each 
letter bearing the date of the year in which the letter was sup- 
posed to be written. " Fancy the mood," writes Carlyle, " of 
these two royal women, and the black whirlwind they were in. 
Wilhelinina's dispatch was incredible. Pen went at the gallop 
night and day. New letters of old date and of no meaning are 
got into the desk again, the desk closed without mark of injury, 
and shoved aside while it is yet time." 

Wesel was the fortress of a small province belonging to Prus- 
sia, on the Rhine, many leagues from Berlin. The intervening 
territory belonged to Hanover and Hesse Cassel. The king or- 
dered his captive son to be taken, under a strong guard, by cir- 
cuitous roads, so as not to attract attention, to the castle of Mit- 
tenwalde, near Berlin. The king then started for home, proba- 
bly as wretched as he was making every body about him. Aft- 
er a very rapid journey, he reached Berlin late in the afternoon 
of Sunday, the 27th of August, 1730. It was the evening after 
the fabrication of the letters had been completed. We give, from 
the gra]3hic pen of Wilhelmina, the account of the king's first in- 
terview with his family : 

" The queen was alone, in his majesty's apartment, waiting for 
him as he approached. As soon as he saw her at the end of the 
suite of rooms, and long before he arrived in the one where she 
was, he cried out, i Your unworthy son has at last ended him- 
self. You have done with him.' 

" l What !' cried the queen, ' have you had the barbarity to 
kill him V 

" ' Yes, I tell you,' the king replied ; ' but I must have his 
writing-case.' For he had already informed himself that it was 
in the queen's possession. 

" The queen went to her own apartment to fetch it. I ran in 
to her there for a moment. She was out of her senses, wringing 
her hands, crying incessantly, and exclaiming, ' O God, my son, 
my son !' Breath failed me. I fell fainting into the arms of 
Madam Sonsfeld. The queen took the writing-desk to the king. 
He immediately broke it open and tore out the letters, with 
which he went away. The queen came back to us. We were 
comforted by the assurance, from some of the attendants, that 
my brother at least was not dead. 

G 



98 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" Pretty soon the king came back, and we, his children, ran to 
pay our respects to him, by kissing his hands. But he no soon- 
er noticed me than rage and fury took possession of him. He 
became black in the face, his eyes sparkling tire, his mouth foam- 
ing. ' Infamous wretch !' said he, ' dare you show yourself be- 
fore me ? Go and keep your scoundrel brother company.' 

" So saying, he seized me with one hand, striking me several 
blows in the face with the other fist. One of the blows struck 
me on the temple, so that I fell back, and should have split my 
head against a corner of the wainscot had not Madam Sonsfeld 
caught me by the head-dress and broken the fall. I lay on the 
floor without consciousness. The king, in his frenzy, proceeded 
to kick me out of a window which opened to the floor. The 
queen, my sisters, and the rest, ran between, preventing him. 
They all ranged themselves around me, which gave Mesdames 
De Kamecke and Sonsfeld time to pick me up. They put me 
in a chair in an embrasure of a window. Madam Sonsfeld sup- 
ported my head, which was wounded and swollen with the blows 
I had received. They threw water upon my face to bring me 
to life, which care I lamentably reproached them with, death be- 
ing a thousand times better in the pass things had come to. 
The queen was shrieking. Her firmness had entirely abandon- 
ed her. She ran wildly about the room, wringing her hands in 
despair. My brothers and sisters, of whom the youngest -was 
not more than four years old, were on their knees begging for 
me. The king's face was so disfigured with rage that it was 
frightful to look upon. 

"The king now admitted that my brother was still alive, but 
vowed horribly that he would put him to death, and lay me fast 
within four walls for the rest of my life. He accused me of be- 
ing the prince's accomplice, whose crime was high treason. ' I 
hope now,' he said, i to have evidence enough to convict the ras- 
cal Fritz and the wretch Wilhelmina, and to cut their heads off. 
As for Fritz, he will always, if he lives, be a worthless fellow. 
I have three other sons, who will all turn out better than he has 
done.' 

" 'Oh, spare my brother,' I cried, l and I will marry the Duke 
of Weissenfels.' But in the great noise he did not hear me. 
And while I strove to repeat it louder, Madam Sonsfeld clapped 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



99 



her handkerchief on my mouth. Pushing aside to get rid of the 
handkerchief, I saw Katte crossing the square. Four soldiers 
were conducting him to the king. My brother's trunks and his 
were following in the rear. Pale and downcast, he took off his 
hat to salute me. He fell at the king's feet imploring pardon." 
The king kicked him, and struck him several heavy blows 
with his cane. He was hit repeatedly in the face, and blood 
gushed from the wounds. With his own hands the king tore 
from Katte's breast the cross of the Order of Saint John. After 
this disgraceful scene the interrogatory commenced. Katte con- 
fessed all the circumstances of the prince's intended escape, but 
denied that there had been any design against the king or the 
state. His own and the prince's letters were examined, but 
nothing was found in them to criminate either. Katte was then 




WILHELMINA IMPRISONED. 



100 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

remanded to prison. Wilhelmina, after receiving the grossest 
possible insults from her father, who accused her, in coarsest 
terms, of being the paramour of Lieutenant Katte, was ordered 
to her room. Two sentries were placed at her door, and direc- 
tions were given that she should be fed only on prison fare. 

" Tell your unworthy daughter," said the king to the queen, 
" that her room is to be her prison. I shall give orders to have 
the guard there doubled. I shall have her examined in the 
most rigorous manner, and will afterward have her removed to 
some fit place, where she may repent of her crimes." 

The whole city of Berlin was agitated by the rumor of these 
events. The violent scene in the palace had taken place in an 
apartment on the ground floor. The loud and angry tones of 
the king, the shrieks of the queen, the cries of the children, the 
general clamor, had so attracted the attention of the passers-by 
that a large crowd had assembled before the windows. It was 
necessary to call out the guard to disperse them. Difficult as it 
was to exaggerate outrages so infamous, still they were exagger- 
ated. The report went to all foreign courts that the king, in his 
ungovernable rage, had knocked clown the Princess Wilhelmina 
and trampled her to death beneath his feet. 



CHAPTER V. 

IMPRISONMENT OF FRITZ AND WILHELMINA. 

Spirited Conduct of Fritz. — Fortress of Custrin. — Prison Fare. — Wilhelmina's Captivity. — Sad 
Fate of Doris Ritter. — Motives of the King. — Doom of Lieutenant Katte. — Pathetic Sup- 
plications. — The Execution. — Peril of Fritz. — Theology of the King.— -Letter from Fritz. — 
Sufferings of Wilhelmina. — Brutality of the King. — Wilhelmina Drought to Terms. 

The captive Crown Prince was conveyed from Wesel to the 
castle of Mitten walde, where he was imprisoned in a room with- 
out furniture or bed. An old chest which chanced to be there 
was his only seat. One of the king's favorite ministers, Grum- 
kow, with other officials, was sent to interrogate him. The 
prince, probably aware that nothing which he could now do 
could make matters worse than they actually were, displayed 
much spirit in the interview. Frankly avowing his intention to 
escape, he refused to make any disclosures which should impli- 
cate his friends. Grumkow insolently informed him that the 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 101 

use of the rack was not yet abolished in his majesty's dominions, 
and that, if he were not more pliant, the energies of that instru- 
ment might be called into requisition. Frederick admitted aft- 
erward that his blood ran cold at that suggestion. Still he had 
the nerve to reply, according to the testimony of Wilhelmina, 

" A hangman such as you naturally takes pleasure in talking 
of his tools and of his trade, but on me they will produce no 
effect. I have owned every thing, and almost regret to have 
done so. I ought not to degrade myself by answering the ques- 
tions of a scoundrel such as you are." 

Grumkow gathered up his papers, and, with his associate offi- 
cials, departed, probably meditating upon his own prospects 
should the Crown Prince ever become King of Prussia. The 
next day, September 5, the captive was taken from the castle of 
Mittenwalde, and sent to the fortress of Ciistrin, a small and 
quiet town about seventy miles from Berlin. The strong, dun- 
geon-like room in which he was incarcerated consisted of bare 
walls, without any furniture, the light being admitted by a sin- 
gle aperture so high that the prince could not look out at it. 
He was divested of his uniform, of his sword, of every mark of 
dignity. 

Coarse brown clothes of plainest cut were furnished him. His 
flute was taken from him, and he was deprived of all books but 
the Bible and a few devotional treatises. He was allowed a 
daily sum, amounting to twelve cents of our money, for his food 
— eight cents for his dinner and four for his supper. His food 
was purchased at a copk-shop near by, and cut for him. He was 
not permitted the use of a knife. The door was opened three 
times a day for ventilation — morning, noon, and night — but not 
for more than four minutes each time. A single tallow-candle 
was allowed him; but that was to be extinguished at seven 
o'clock in the evening. 

Thus deprived of all the ordinary comforts of life, the prince, 
in the nineteenth year of his age, was consigned to an imprison- 
ment of absolute solitude. For weeks and months he was left 
to his own agitating thoughts, with the apparent blighting of 
every earthly hope, awaiting whatever doom his merciless father 
might award to him. His jailers, not unmindful of the embar- 
rassing fact that their captive might yet become King of Prus- 



102 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




FREDERICK IN PRISON. 



sia, with their fate in his hands, gradually treated him with all 
the secret kindness which they dared to exhibit * 

Though Wilhelmina was also a close prisoner in her apart- 
ment in the Berlin palace, and was fed upon the coarsest fare, she 

* "A Captain Fouque' comes to Custrin on duty or as a volunteer by-and-by. He is an old 
friend of the prince's ; a ready-witted, hot-tempered, highly-estimable man. He is often with 
the prince. Their light is extinguished precisely at seven o'clock. 'Very well, lieutenant,' he 
would say, ' you have done your orders to the Crown Prince's light. But his majesty has no 
concern with Captain Fouque's candles,' and thereupon would light a pair. Nay, I have heard 
of lieutenants who punctually blew out the prince's light, as a matter of duty and command, and 
then kindled it again as a civility left free to human nature. In short, his majesty's orders can 
only be fulfilled to the letter. Even in the letter his majesty's orders are severe enough." — 
Carlyle, vol. ii., p. 218. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 103 

still had a comfortable room, her musical instruments, and the 
companionship of her governess, Madam Sonsfeld. It was rather 
a relief to the unhappy princess to be shut out from the pres- 
ence of her father and from the sound of his voice. She occasion- 
ally obtained a smuggled letter from her mother, and even got 
one, in pencil, from her brother, full of expressions of tenderness. 

All the friends of Fritz were treated by the infuriate father 
with the most cruel severity. No mercy was shown to any one 
who had ever given the slightest indication of sympathy with 
the Crown Prince. A bookseller, who had furnished Fritz with 
French books, was cruelly exiled to the remote shores of the 
Baltic, on the extreme northern frontiers of Prussia. A French 
gentleman, Count Montholieu, who had loaned the Crown Prince 
money, would probably have perished upon the scaffold had he 
not escaped by flight. His effigy was nailed to the gallows. 

There was a young lady in Potsdam by the name of Doris 
Bitter. She was the daughter of highly respectable parents, 
and was of unblemished character. As Fritz was extremely fond 
of music, and she played sweetly on the harpsichord, he loaned 
her pieces of music, and occasion ally, under the eye of her par- 
ents, accomj>anied her with the flute. The life of a colonel in 
garrison at Potsdam was so dull, that this innocent amusement 
was often quite a help in beguiling the weary hours. 

The young lady was not beautiful, and there was no evidence 
of the slightest improprieties, or of any approach even to flirta- 
tion. But the infuriate king, who, without the shadow of rea- 
son, could accuse his own daughter of infamy, caused this young 
lady, under the pretext that she had been the guilty intimate of 
his son, to be taken from her parents, to be delivered to the exe- 
cutioners, and to be publicly conveyed in a cart and whipped on 
the bare back through the principal streets of the town. She 
was then imprisoned, and doomed to beat hemp as a culprit for 
three years. 

One's faith in a superintending Providence is almost staggered 
by such outrages. It would seem that there could scarcely be 
any compensation even in the future world for so foul a wrong 
inflicted upon this guileless and innocent girl. There can be no 
possible solution of the mystery but in the decree, " After death 
cometh the judgment." 



104 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




DORIS HITTER S PUNISHMENT. 



" It is impossible," writes Lord Dover, " not to perceive that 
the real reason of his conduct was his enmity to his son, and 
that the crime of the poor girl was the having assisted in mak- 
ing the son's existence more supportable. The intention of Fred- 
erick William apparently being that the infliction of so infa- 
mous a punishment in so public a manner should prevent the 
possibility of Frederick's ever seeing her again."* 

A court-martial was convened to pronounce sentence upon the 

* Voltaire, in his unreliable "Vie Prive'e du Roi de Prusse" t. ii., p. 51, says that, when Fred- 
erick became king, he settled upon Doris, who was then married and poor, an annuity of sev- 
enty-six dollars. Thiebault, far more accurate, in his "Souvenirs de Vingt Ans de Sejour a 
Berlin," says he gave her a pension of one hundred and fifty-six dollars. It does not speak 
well for Frederick that he could have so meanly requited so terrible a wrong. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 105 

Crown Prince and his confederates. The court was appointed 
by the king, and consisted of three major generals, three colonels, 
three lieutenant colonels, three majors, three captains, and three 
belonging to the civil courts, called auditors. The court, thus 
composed of eighteen members, met on the 20th of October, 1730, 
in the little town of Copenick, a few miles from Berlin. Grum- 
kow, well aware that these proceedings would attract the atten- 
tion of every court in Europe, had persuaded the king to sub- 
mit to the formality of a court-martial. 

It was well understood that a verdict was to be returned in 
accordance with the wishes of the king, and also that the king 
desired that no mercy should be shown to his son.* After a 
session of six days the verdict of the court was rendered. The 
crime of the Crown Prince, in endeavoring to escape from the 
brutality of his father, was declared to be desertion, and the pen- 
alty was death. Lieutenant Keith was also declared to be a de- 
serter, and doomed to die. But as he had escaped, and could 
not be recaptured, he was sentenced to be hanged in effigy, which 
effigy was then to be cut in four quarters and nailed to the gal- 
lows at Wesel. Lieutenant Katte, who certainly had not desert- 
ed, and whose only crime was that he had been a confidant of 
the Crown Prince in his plan to escape, was condemned to im- 
prisonment in a fortress for two years, some say for life. 

The king approved of the first two sentences of the court. 
The mildness of the last roused his indignation. " Katte," he 
exclaimed, "is guilty of high treason. He shall die by the 
sword of the headsman. It is better that he should die than 
that justice depart out of the world." His doom was thus fixed 
as irreversible as fate. 

Fortunately for the young man's mother, she was in her grave. 
His father was at that time commandant of Konigsberg, in high 
favor with the king. His illustrious grandfather on his moth- 
er's side, Field-marshal Wartensleben, was still living. For half 

* "The first idea of Frederick William was to deliver his son over to be condemned by the 
ordinaiy tribunal of Prussia, well knowing that his judges would never venture to decide except 
according to his wishes. Indeed, he took a very summary as well as a very certain mode of ef- 
fecting this object ; for, whenever their sentiments were not approved by him, he was in the 
habit of going into the court where they sat and there distributing kicks and blows to all the 
judges in turn, at the same time calling them rogues and blackguards ! From men so circum- 
stanced Frederick would have no chance of acquittal. " — The Life of Frederick II, by Lord 
Dover, vol. i., p. 33. 



106 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

a century he had worthily occupied the most eminent posts of 
honor. The tears, the agonizing entreaties of these friends were 
not of the slightest avail. The king's heart was as impervious 
to appeals for mercy as are the cliffs of Sinai. 

There are several letters still remaining which Lieutenant 
Katte wrote to his friends during those hours of anguish in 
which he was awaiting his death. No one can read them with- 
out compassionate emotion, and without execrating the memory 
of that implacable tyrant who so unjustly demanded his execu- 
tion. The young man wrote to the king a petition containing 
the following pathetic plea : 

" Sire, — It is not to excuse myself that I address this letter to 
your majesty ; but, moved by sincere repentance and heartfelt 
sorrow, I implore your clemency, and beseech you, sire, to have 
some consideration for my youth, which renders me capable of 
imprudence without any bad design. 

" God does not always follow the impulse of his justice to- 
ward sinners, but often, by his mercy, reclaims those who have 
gone astray. And will not your majesty, sire, who are a resem- 
blance of the divinity, pardon a criminal who is guilty of disobe- 
dience to his sovereign ? The hope of pardon supports me, and 
I flatter myself that your majesty will not cut me off in the flow- 
er of my age, but will give me time to prove the effect your, maj- 
esty's clemency will have on me. 

" Sire, I own that I am guilty. Will not your majesty grant 
me a pardon, which God never refuses to the greatest sinner who 
sincerely confesses his sins? I shall be always ready to shed 
even the last drop of my blood to show your majesty what grate- 
ful sentiments your clemency can raise in me." 

It was all in vain. On Sunday evening, September 5th, as the 
condemned young man was sitting alone in his prison cell, sadly 
awaiting his doom, yet clinging to hopes of mercy^ an officer en- 
tered with the startling intelligence that the carriage was at the 
door to convey him to the fortress of Custrin, at a few leagues 
distance, where he was to be executed. For a moment he was 
greatly agitated. He soon, however, regained his equanimity. 
It must indeed have been a fearful communication to one in the 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 107 

vigor of health, in the prime of youth, and surrounded by every 
thing which could render life desirable. Two brother-officers 
. and the chaplain accompanied him upon this dismal midnight 
ride. Silence, pious conversation, prayers, and occasional devo- 
tional hymns occupied the hours. The dawn of a cold winter's 
morning was just appearing as they reached the fortress. 

His companions had no heart to witness the bloody execution 
of their friend and brother-officer. The chaplain, Muller, who 
had accompanied the condemned to Custrin, and also Besserer, 
the chaplain of the garrison there, were either obliged by their 
official position, or were constrained by Christian sympathy, to 
ride by his side in the death-cart to the scaffold. Of the rest of 
his friends he took an affectionate leave, saying, " Adieu, my 
brothers ; may God be with you evermore I" He was conveyed 
to the rampart of the castle dressed in coarse brown garments 
precisely like those worn by the prince. 

By order of the king, Fritz, who had also been condemned to 
die and was awaiting his doom, was brought down into a lower 
room of the fortress, before whose window the scaffold was erect- 
ed, that he might be compelled " to see Katte die." At his en- 
trance the curtains were closed, shutting out the view of the 
court-yard. Upon the drawing of the curtains, Fritz, to his hor- 
ror, beheld the scaffold draped in black on a level with the win- 
dow, and directly before it. 

The unhappy Crown Prince was in an agony of despair. 
Again and again he frantically exclaimed, " In the name of God, 
I beg you to stop the execution till I write to the king ! I am 
ready to renounce all my rights to the crown if he will pardon 
Katte I" As the condemned was led by the window to ascend 
the scaffold, Fritz -cried out to him, in anguish as intense as a 
generous heart can endure, " Pardon me, my dear Katte, pardon 
me ! Oh that this should be what I have done for you !" 

A smile flitted across Katte's pallid features as he replied, 
" Death is sweet for a prince I love so well/' With fortitude 
he ascended the scaffold. The executioner attempted to band- 
age his eyes, but he resisted, and, looking to heaven, said, "Fa- 
ther, into thy hands I surrender my soul !" Four grenadiers 
held Fritz with his face toward the window. Fainting, he fell 
senseless upon the floor. At the same moment, by a single blow, 



108 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




FREDERICK AT KATTE S EXECUTION. 



Katte's head rolled upon the scaffold. As the prince recovered 
consciousness, he found himself still at the window, in full view 
of the headless and gory corpse of his friend. Another swoon 
consigned him to momentary unconsciousness.* 

* "The prince had been some weeks in his prison atCiistrin when one day an old officer, follow- 
ed by four grenadiers, entered his chamber weeping. Frederick had no doubt that he was to be 
made a head shorter. But the officer, still in tears, ordered the grenadiers to take him to the 
window and hold his head out of it, that he might be obliged to look on the execution of his 



FREDERICK THE GREAT 109 

The body of Katte remained -upon the scaffold during the 
short wintry day, and at night was buried in one of the bastions 
of the fortress. This cruel tragedy was enacted more than a 
century ago ; but there are few who even now can read the rec- 
ord without having their eyes flooded, through the conflicting 
emotions of sympathy for the sufferers and indignation against 
the tyrant who could perpetrate such crimes. 

When Frederick returned to consciousness his misery plunged 
him into a high fever. Delirium ensued, during which Chaplain 
Mtiller, who remained with him, says that he frequently attempt- 
ed to destroy himself. As the fever abated and he became more 
tranquil, floods of tears gushed from his eyes. He for some time 
refused to take any nourishment. It seemed to him now that 
every hope in life was forever blighted. He had no doubt that 
his own death was fully decided upon, and that he would soon 
be led to his execution. In his moments of delirious anguish he 
at times longed for death to come as speedily as possible. And 
again it seemed awful to have his young life — for he was then 
but eighteen years of age — cut off by the bloody sword.* 

Chaplain Miiller seems to have enjoyed the confidence of the 
king to an unusual degree. He was ordered to remain at Ciis^ 
trin, and to have daily interviews with the prince, to instruct 
him in religion. The king professed to be eminently a religious 
man. While torturing the body and the mind of the prince in 
every way, he expressed great anxiety for the salvation of his 
soul. It is not strange that the example of such a father had 
staggered the faith of the son. Illogically he renounced that re- 
ligion which condemned, in the severest terms, the conduct of 
the father, and which caused the king often to tremble upon his 
throne, appalled by the declaration, " Know thou that for all 
these things God will bring thee into judgment." 

The young prince had- also become dissolute in life. The sa- 

friend Katte upon a scaffold expressly built for that purpose. He saw, stretched out his hand, 
and fainted. The father was present at this exhibition." — Memoirs of the Life of Voltaire, 
p. 26. 

* " General Ginkel, the Dutch embassador, here told me of an interview he had with the 
king. The king harbors most monstrous wicked designs, not fit to be spoken of in words. It 
is certain, if he continue in the mind he is in at present, we shall see scenes here as wicked and 
bloody as any that were ever heard of since the creation of the world. He will sacrifice his 
whole family — every body, except Grumkow, being, as he imagines, in conspiracy against him. 
All these things he said with such imprecations and disordered iooks, foaming at the mouth all 
the while, as it was terrible either to see or hear." — Dickens's Dispatch, 1th December, 1730. 



HO FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

cred volume denounced such a career as offensive to God, as sure 
to bring down upon the guilty prince the divine displeasure in 
this life, and, if unrepented of, in the life to come. No man who 
believes the Bible to be true can, with any comfort whatever, in- 
dulge in sin. The prince wished to indulge his passions with- 
out restraint. He therefore, thus living, found it to be a neces- 
sity to renounce that religion which arrayed against his sinful 
life all the terrors of the final judgment. A wicked life and true 
Christian faith can not live in peace together. The one or the 
other must be abandoned. Frederick chose to abandon Chris- 
tian faith. 

It seems that the Crown Prince had an inquiring mind. He 
was interested in metaphysical speculations. He had adopted, 
perhaps, as some excuse for his conduct, the doctrine of predesti- 
nation, that God hath foreordained whatsoever cometh to pass. 
The idea that there is a power, which Hume calls philosophical 
necessity, which Napoleon calls destiny, which Calvin calls pre- 
destination, by w T hich all events are controlled, and that this ne- 
cessity is not inconsistent with free agency, is a doctrine which 
ever has commanded the assent, and probably ever will, of many 
<*)f the strongest thinkers in the world. 

" The heresy about predestination," wTites Carlyle, " or the 
election by free grace, as his majesty terms it, according to which 
a man is preappointed, from all eternity, either to salvation or 
the opposite, which is Fritz's notion, and indeed Calvin's, and 
that of many benighted creatures, this editor among them, ap- 
pears to his majesty an altogether shocking one. What ! may 
not deserter Fritz say to himself, even now, or in whatever other 
deeps of sin he may fall into, ' I was foredoomed to' it ? How 
could I or how can I help it V The mind of his majesty shud- 
ders as if looking over the edge of an abyss." 

Chaplain Mliller was especially directed to argue with Fred- 
erick upon this point, and, if possible, to convert him to Chris- 
tianity. The correspondence which ensued between the king 
and Miiller is preserved. The king wrote to the chaplain, un- 
der date of November 3d, 1730 : 

" I have been assured that you are an honest and pious cler- 
gyman, and a faithful minister of the Word of God. Since, there- 
fore, you are going to Ciistrin, on account of the execution of 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. Ill 

Lieutenant Katte, I command you, after the execution, to pay a 
visit to the Prince Royal ; to reason with him and to represent 
to him that whosoever abandons God is also abandoned by God ; 
and that, when God has abandoned a man, and has taken away 
his grace from him, that man is incapable of doing what is good, 
and can only do what is evil. You will exhort him to repent, 
and to ask pardon for the many sins he has committed, and into 
which he has seduced others, one of whom has been just punish- 
ed with death. 

" If you then find the prince contrite and humble, you will en- 
gage him to fall on his knees with you, to ask pardon of God 
with tears of penitence. But you must proceed with prudence 
and circumspection, for the prince is cunning. You will repre- 
sent to him also, in a proper manner, the error he labors under 
in believing that some are predestinated to one thing and some 
to another; and that thus he who is predestinated to evil can 
do nothing but evil, and he who is predestinated to good can do 
nothing but good, and that, consequently, we can change nothing 
of what is to happen — a dreadful error, especially in what re- 
gards our salvation. 

u Now, as I hope that his present situation, and the execution* 
which has just taken place before his eyes, will touch and soften 
his heart, and will lead him to better sentiments, I charge you, 
' as you value your conscience, to do all that is humanly possible 
to represent forcibly to the prince these things ; and particularly, 
in what relates to predestination, to convince him by means of 
passages from the Scriptures which satisfactorily prove wdiat I 
wish you to advance." 

This letter was addressed to the " reverend, well - beloved, 
and faithful Midler," and was signed " your affectionate king.' 1 
Though the king had not yet announced any intention of spar- 
ing the life of his son, and probably was fully resolved upon his 
execution, he was manifestly disturbed by the outcry against 
his proceedings raised in all the courts of Europe. Three days 
before the king wrote the above letter, the Emperor of Germany, 
Charles VI., had written to him, with his own hand, earnestly 
interceding for the Crown Prince. In addition to the letter, the 
emperor, through his minister Seckendorf, had presented a very 
firm remonstrance. He announced to Frederick William that 



112 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Prince Frederick was a prince of the empire, and that he was 
entitled to the protection of the laws of the Germanic body ; that 
the heir-apparent of the Prussian monarchy was under the safe- 
guard of the Germanic empire, and that the king was bound to 
surrender to this tribunal the accused, and the documents rel- 
ative to this trial. 

The emperor was probably induced to this decisive course 
not merely by motives of humanity, but also by the considera- 
tion that by thus saving the life of Frederick he would forever 
attach him to the interests of the house of Austria. The kings 
of Poland and Sweden also wrote to the king, earnestly interced- 
ing for the life of the Crown Prince. 

The king was at first much incensed by these attempts at in- 
terference. It was not safe for him to bid defiance to the opin- 
ions of the civilized world. Emotions of anger and mortification 
struggled in the bosom of the king. Captain Guy Dickens, sec- 
retary of Dubourgay, writes : 

" The King of Prussia can not sleep. The officers sit up with 
him every night, and in his slumbers he raves and talks of spir- 
its and apparitions." 

He drank deeply, wandering about by night as if possessed 
by fiends. " He has not," writes Captain Dickens, " gone to bed 
sober for a month past." Once he rose, about midnight, and, 
with a candle in his hand, entered the apartment of the queen, 
apparently in a state of extreme terror, saying that there was 
something haunting him. His agitation was so great that a bed 
was made up for him there. 

Two clays after the death of Katte, the king wrote to Chap- 
lain Mtiller, under date of November 7th, 1730, a letter closing 
with the following words : 

"As God often, by wondrous guidance, strange paths, and 
thorny steps, will bring men into the kingdom of Christ, so may 
our divine Redeemer help that this prodigal son be brought 
into his communion ; that his godless heart be beaten until it is 
softened and changed, and so he be snatched from the claws of 
Satan. This grant us, the Almighty God and Father, for our 
Lord Jesus Christ and his passion and death's sake. Amen. 
" I am, for the rest, your well-affectionecl king, 

" Frederick William." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 113 

The prince supposed that the object of Miiller's visits was to 
prepare him for his death. But upon receiving the full assur- 
ance that his father contemplated pardoning him, should there 
be evidence of repentance, he promised to take an oath of entire 
submission to his father's will. Seven commissioners were sent 
to the prison of Custrin, on the 19th of November, to administer 
this oath with the utmost solemnity. He was conducted to the 
church. A large crowd was in attendance. A sermon appro- 
priate to the occasion was preached. The sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper was administered to him. And then he audibly repeat- 
ed the oath and attached to it his signature. 

From the church the prince was conducted, not back to his 
prison in the fortress, but to a town mansion, which was assigned 
as his residence. His sword was restored to him. But he was 
still not fully liberated. Officials, appointed by his father, sur- 
rounded him, who watched and reported all his movements. 
The first act of the young prince, upon reaching his apartment 
after this partial liberation, was to write as follows to his father. 
We give the letter as translated by Carlyle : 

" Custrin, November 19, 1730. 

" All-serenest and All-graciousest Father, — To your royal 
majesty, my all-graciousest Father, I have, by my disobedience as 
Their subject and soldier, not less than by my undutifulness as 
Their son, given occasion to a just wrath and aversion against 
me. With the all-obedientest respect I submit myself wholly 
to the grace of my most All-gracious Father, and beg him most 
Ail-graciously to pardon me, as it is not so .much the withdrawal 
of my liberty, in a sad arrest, as my own thoughts of the fault I 
have committed that have brought me to reason, who, with all- 
obedientest respect and submission, continue till my end my All- 
graciousest king's and Father's faithfully-obedientest servant and 
son, Frederick." 

Here, in the little town of Custrin, in a house very meagerly 
furnished, the Crown Prince established his household upon the 
humblest scale. The prince was allowed to wear his sword, but 
not his uniform. He was debarred all amusements, and was 
forbidden to read, write, or speak French. To give him employ - 

H 



114 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

merit, he was ordered to attend regularly the sittings of the 
Chamber of Counselors of that district, though he was to take 
his seat as the youngest member. Three persons were appoint- 
ed constantly to watch over him. Lord Dover writes : 
* " His diet was regulated at a sum which made it barely suf- 
ficient to prevent actual starvation. His apartment was most 
miserable, and almost entirely devoid of furniture. He was in 
great want of linen, and of others of the first necessaries of life. 
At nine o'clock at night his candle was taken from him, while 
pen, ink, paper, and books were alike denied him." 

" His very flute," Carlyle writes, " most innocent ' Princess,' as 
he used to call his flute in old days, is denied him ever since he 
came to Ctistrin. But by degrees he privately gets her back, and 
consorts much with her; wails forth, in beautiful adagios, emo- 
tions for which there is no other utterance at present. He has 
liberty of Ctistrin and the neighborhood. Out of Ciistrin he is 
not to lodge any night without leave had of the commandant." 

While these sad scenes were transpiring, the Princess Wilhel- 
mina was held in close captivity in her apartment at the palace 
in Berlin. The king had convened a council of eight clergymen, 
and had put to them the question whether a father had not a 
right to give his daughter in wedlock to whom he pleased. 
Much to the honor of these clergymen, they replied, with but one 
exception, in the negative. 

The queen remained firm in her determination that Wilhel- 
mina should marry the Prince of Wales. The king was equally 
inflexible in his resolve that she should not marry the Prince of 
Wales. The queen occasionally had interviews with Wilhel- 
mina, when they wept together over their disappointments and 
trials. The spirited young princess had no special predilections 
for the English prince, but she was firm in her resolve not to 
have a repugnant husband forced upon her. On the night of 
the 27th of January, 1731, as the queen was about to leave Ber- 
lin for Potsdam, she said to her daughter, 

" Be firm, my child. Trust in my management. Only swear 
to me, on your eternal salvation, that never, on any compulsion, 
will you marry another than the Prince of Wales. Give me that 
oath." 

But Wilhelmina evaded the oath upon the ground of religious 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 115 

scruples. Anxiety, confinement, and bad diet had so preyed upon 
her health that she was reduced almost to a skeleton. The fol- 
lowing extract from her journal gives a graphic account of her 
painful condition : 

" I was shut up in my bedchamber, where I saw nobody, and 
continued always to fast. I was really dying of hunger. I read 
as long as there was daylight, and made remarks upon what I 
read. My health began to give way. I became as thin as a 
skeleton from want of food and exercise. One day Madam De 
Sonsfeld and myself were at table, looking sadly at one another, 
having nothing to eat but soup made with salt and water, and a 
ragout of old bones, full of hairs and other dirt, when we heard 
a knocking at the window. Surprised, we rose hastily to see 
what it was. We found a raven with a morsel of bread in its 
beak, which it laid down on the sill of the window so soon as it 
saw us, and flew away. Tears came into our eyes at this adven- 
ture. ' Our lot is very deplorable,' said I to my governess, l since 
it even touches the creatures devoid of reason. They have more 
compassion for us than men, who treat us with so much cruelty.' " 

The raven was a tame one, which had got lost and was seek- 
ing for its home. The story, however, spread, and created great 
sympathy for the imprisoned princess. There was a large num- 
ber of French refugees in Berlin. With characteristic kindness, 
at the risk of incurring the royal displeasure, they sent daily a 
basket of food, which was placed in a situation from which Wil- 
helmina's maids could easily convey the contents to her, while 
compassionate sentries kindly looked the other way. The prin- 
cess wrote to her father, imploring permission to receive the sac- 
rament, from which she had been debarred for nearly a year. 
The reply from her father was couched in the following terms: 

iC M.j blackguard daughter may receive the sacrament." 

Her sisters were now permitted occasionally to visit her, and 
her situation became somewhat ameliorated. On the 10th of 
May Wilhelmina received a letter from her mother which caused 
her to wring her hands in anguish. It informed her that the 
next day a deputation was to call upon her from the king, to in- 
sist upon her giving her consent to marry the Prince of Baireuth. 
The letter was as follows : 

"All is lost, my dear daughter. The king is determined, at 



116 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



all hazards, upon your marriage. I have sustained several dread- 
ful contests on this subject, but neither my prayers nor my tears 
have had any effect. Eversman has orders to make the pur- 
chases necessary for your marriage. You must prepare yourself 
to lose Madam Sonsfeld. The king is determined to have her 
degraded with infamy if you do not obey him. Some one will 
be sent to persuade you. In God's name consent to nothing, and 




GKUMKOW'S CONFERENCE WITH WILHELMINA. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 117 

God will support you in it. A prison is better than a bad mar- 
riage. Adieu, my dear daughter ! I expect every thing from 
your firmness." 

A deputation of four ministers, headed by Baron Grumkow, 
the next day presented themselves to the princess. To overawe 
Wilhelmina, they approached her with all the solemnity of state. 
Grumkow opened the conference : 

"Obey the wishes of the king," said he, "and the royal favor 
will be restored to you. Eefuse to do it, and no one can tell 
what will be the doom which will fall upon your mother, your 
brother, and yourself." 

They all united their entreaties, arguments, prayers, and 
threats. The princess was in a state of terrible agitation. Al- 
most distracted she paced the floor. That she might have a lit- 
tle time to reflect, the four deputies retired into the recess of a 
window. One of them, M. Tulmier, then approached the prin- 
cess, and, in a low tone of voice, said to her, 

" Do not resist any longer. Submit to whatever is required 
of you. I will answer with my life that the marriage will never 
really take place. It is necessary, at whatever cost, to appease 
the king for the present. I will explain to the queen that this 
is the only means of obtaining a favorable declaration from the 
King of England." 

Thus influenced, she yielded. Tears flooded her eyes, and her 
voice was broken with sobs as she said, " I am ready to sacrifice 
myself for the peace of the family." The deputation withdrew, 
leaving the princess in despair. Baron Grumkow conveyed to 
the king the pleasing intelligence of her submission. 



118 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE MARRIAGE OF WILHELMINA. 

Wilhelmina's Letter to her Mother. — Cruel Response. — The Court Festival. — First Interview 
with the Prince of Baireuth. — His Character and Appearance. — Interview between the King 
and Fritz. — The Partial Reconciliation. — Divine Decrees. — The King's Sense of Justice. — 
The King's Discipline of the Judges. — Character of Fritz. — Wilhelmina's Annoyances. — Her 
Marriage. — Interview between Wilhelmina and Fritz. — The Departure. 

Wilhelmlna, having thus given her very reluctant assent to 
her marriage with the Prince of Baireuth, wrote as follows to 
her mother : 

" I have hardly strength enough to trace these lines. My state 
is altogether worthy of pity. It is not through any menaces, 
however violent they may have been, that I have yielded my 
consent to the king's wishes. An interest still more dear to me 
has determined me to this sacrifice. I have been till now the 
innocent cause of all the unhappiness which your majesty has 
endured. My too sensible heart has been penetrated by the 
touching details you have latterly made of them. 

"You have been willing to suffer for me. Is it not much more 
natural that I should sacrifice myself for you, and that I should 
finish, once for all, this fatal division in the family ? Could I 
balance a moment between the choice of unhappiness for myself 
and the pardon of my brother ? What dreadful discourses have 
there not been held to me on this subject ! I tremble when I 
think of them. All the objections I could allege* against the 
king's proposal were refuted to me beforehand. Your majesty 
yourself had proposed to him the Prince of Baireuth as a fit al- 
liance for me. I can not therefore imagine that you will disap- 
prove of my resolution. Besides, necessity is not to be resisted. 
I shall have the honor to offer a more circumstantial detail of 
the whole transaction to your majesty when I shall be permitted 
to throw myself at your feet. I can understand easily what 
must be your grief on the occasion. It is that which touches 
me the most." 

The king, in response to the report of Baron Grumkow, which 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 119 

was so gratifying to him, sent the same evening the following 
note to Wilhelmina : 

" I am delighted, my dear Wilhelmina, that you are so submis- 
sive to the wishes of your father. The good God will bless you 
for it ; and I will never abandon you. I will take care of you 
all my life, and will endeavor to prove to you that I am your 
very affectionate father." 

The next morning the princess received the following cruel 
epistle from her mother : . 

" You have cut me to the heart, and have inflicted on me the 
greatest misery I ever endured. I had placed all my hope in 
you, in consequence of my ignorance of your character. You 
have had the address to disguise to me the bad propensities of 
your heart, and the baseness of your disposition. I repent a 
thousand times the kindness I have shown you, the care I have 
taken of your education, and all that I have suffered on your ac- 
count. I no longer acknowledge you as my daughter, and shall, 
in future, never regard you but as my most cruel enemy, since 
it is you who have sacrificed me to my persecutors, who now tri- 
umph over me. Never count upon me again. I vow eternal 
hatred to you, and will never forgive you." 

Soon after, the king returned to Berlin and summoned his 
daughter to his presence. He received her very graciously. 
The queen, however, remained quite unreconciled, and was loud 
in the expression of her anger: "I am disgraced, vanquished, 
and my enemies are triumphant !" she exclaimed. Her chagrin 
was so great that she fell quite sick. To a few words of sympa- 
thy which her child uttered, she replied, "Why do you pretend 
to weep ? It is you who have killed me." 

Frederick William was in high spirits. Many distinguished 
strangers were invited to his court, and they were received with 
great magnificence. There were costly and showy entertain- 
ments, served by " six-and-twenty blackamoors," bands of music, 
with much pomp of etiquette, and reviews of the giant guard 
and of the marvelously drilled army. Preparations were made 
for a review of great splendor on Monday, the 28th of May. 
The Prince of Baireuth was invited, though neither the queen 
nor Wilhelmina were aware of it. At the early hour of seven 
o'clock of the preceding evening the king went to bed, that he 



120 Frederick the great. 

might be fresh for the review on the morrow. His high-born 
guests were left to be entertained by the queen and the princess. 
Just as they were passing in to supper, the sound of carriage 
wheels, approaching the foot of the grand staircase, was heard in 
the court-yard. As that was an honor conferred only upon 
princes, the queen was a little surprised, and sent to inquire who 
had arrived. To her consternation, she found that it was the 
Prince of Baireuth. 

" The head of Medusa," writes the princess, " never produced 
such horror as did this piece of news to the queen. For some 
time she could not utter a word, and changed color so often that 
we thought she would faint. Her state went to my heart. I 
remained as immovable as she. Every one present appeared 
full of consternation." 

The prince retired to his chamber, to be presented to the roy- 
al family at the review the next day. Wilhelmina passed a 
miserable night. She could not sleep, and in the morning found 
herself so ill that she begged to be excused from the review. 
She also greatly dreaded encountering the coarse jests of her fa- 
ther. But she could not be released from the review. Both 
she and her mother were compelled to go. In an open carriage, 
the queen and princess, with attendant ladies of the court, pass- 
ed before the line. The Marquis of Schwedt, whom the princess 
had so emphatically discarded, was at the head of his regiment. 
He seemed " swollen with rage," and saluted the royal party 
with his eyes turned away. The royal carriages were then with- 
drawn to a little distance that the ladies might witness the spec- 
tacle. 

"Such a show for pomp and circumstance, Wilhelmina owns, 
as could not be equaled in the world ; such wheeling, rhythmic 
coalescing and unfolding, accurate as clock-work, far and wide ; 
swift, big column here hitting big column there at the appoint- 
ed place and moment; with their volleyings and trumpetings, 
bright uniforms, and streamers, and field-music, in equipment 
and manoeuvre perfect all, to the meanest drummer or black ket- 
tle-drummer ; supreme drill sergeant playing on the thing as on 
his huge piano, several square miles in area."* 

As the ladies of the court were gazing upon this spectacle, an 

* Carlyle. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 121 

officer rode up to the royal carriage, cap in hand, and said that 
he was directed to present to the queen and princess his High- 
ness the Prince of Baireuth. Immediately a tall young man, in 
rich dress and of very courtly air, rode up to the carriage and 
saluted his future mother and his destined bride. His reception 
was very chilling. The queen, with frigid civility, scarcely rec- 
ognized his low bow. Wilhelmina, faint from fasting, anxiety, 
and sleeplessness, was so overcome by her emotions that she fell 
back upon her seat in a swoon. 

Wilhelmina had never seen the Prince of Wales. Her moth- 
er had not attempted to conceal from her that he was exceeding- 
ly plain in person, slightly deformed, weak in intellect, and de- 
based by his debaucheries. But the ambitious queen urged 
these considerations, not as objections, but as incentives to the 
marriage. " You will be able," she said, " to have him entirely 
under your direction. You will thus be virtually King of En- 
gland, and can exert a powerful control over all the nations of 
Europe." These considerations, however, did not influence the 
princess so much as they did her mother. She had never taken 
any special interest in her marriage with the Prince of Wales. 
Indeed, at times, she had said that nothing should ever induce 
her to marry him. 

The first glance at the Prince of Baireuth prepossessed the 
princess in his favor. She subsequently, when better acquaint- 
ed with him, described him in the following terms : 

" The prince is tall, well made, and has a noble air. His feat- 
ures are neither handsome nor regular; but his countenance, 
which is open, engaging, and very agreeable, stands him in the 
place of beauty. He is of a hasty temper, and replies with 
quickness and without embarrassment. Though his nature is 
inclined to anger, he knows so well how to overcome it that it 
is never perceived, and no one has ever suffered by it. He is 
very gay. His conversation is very agreeable, though he has 
some difficulty in making himself intelligible from lisping so 
much. His conception is quick, and his intellect penetrating. 
The goodness of his heart gains him the attachment of all who 
know him. He is generous, charitable, compassionate, polite, en- 
gaging, and enjoys very equal spirits. The only fault I know in 
him is too much levity, which I must mention here, as otherwise 



122 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

I should be accused of partiality. He has, however, much cor- 
rected himself of it." 

The next Sunday, June 3d, the betrothal took place with great 
magnificence. The ceremony was attended by a large concourse 
of distinguished guests. Lord Dover says that the very evening 
of the day of the betrothing a courier arrived from England with 
dispatches announcing that the English court had yielded to all 
the stipulations demanded by the King of Prussia in reference 
to the marriage of Wilhelmina to the Prince of Wales. It was 
now too late to retract. Probably both the king and Wilhel- 
mina were gratified in being able to decline the offer. But the 
chagrin of the queen was terrible. She fell into a violent fever, 
and came near dying, reproaching her daughter with having 
killed her. 

There seems to be no end to the complications and troubles 
of this royal family. It is said that Wilhelmina, to soothe her 
mother, treated her betrothed with great coldness; that her 
younger sister Charlotte fell deeply in love with the Prince of 
Baireuth, and endeavored to win him to herself; and that the 
prince himself, attracted by warmth on the one hand and re- 
pelled by coldness on the other, was quite disposed to make the 
exchange.* The king, irritated by these interminable annoy- 
ances, and the victim of chronic petulance and ill nature, recom- 
menced his brutal treatment of his daughter. 

While these scenes were transpiring, the Crown Prince was at 
Custrin, upon probation, being not yet admitted to the presence 
of his father. He seems to have exerted himself to the utmost 
to please the king, applying himself diligently to become familiar 
with all the tedious routine and details of the administration of 
finance, police, and the public domains. Fritz was naturally 
very amiable. He was consequently popular in the little town 
in which he resided, all being ready to do every thing in their 
power to serve him. The income still allowed him by his father 
was so small that he would have suffered from poverty had not 
the gentry in the neighborhood, regardless of the prohibition to 
lend money to the prince, contributed secretly to replenish his 
purse. 

A year and a day had elapsed since the father had seen the 

* Life of Frederick II , by Lord Dover, vol. i., p. 127. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 123 

son. On the loth of August, the king, being on a journey, stop- 
ped for a couple of hours at Custrin, and held an interview with 
Fritz. The monarch was attended by a retinue of several hun- 
dred persons. The scene which ensued is described by Gruni- 
kow in his summary of what took place at Custrin on the 15th 
of August, 1731. The king sent for the prince to be brought 
before him at the government house. As Fritz entered he fell 
upon his knees at his father's feet. The king coldly ordered 
him to rise, saying, 

" You will now recall to mind what passed a year and a day 
ago — how scandalously you behaved, and what a godless enter- 
prise you undertook. As I have had you about me from the 
beginning, and must know you well, I did all in the world that 
was in my power, by kindness and by harshness, to make an 
honorable man of you. As I rather suspected your evil pur- 
poses, I treated you in the harshest and sharpest way in the Sax- 
on camp, in hopes you would consider yourself, and take anoth- 
er line of conduct ; would confess your faults to me, and beg for- 
giveness. But all in vain. You grew ever more stiff-necked. 
You thought to carry it through with your headstrong humor. 
But hark ye, my lad ! if thou wert sixty or seventy instead of 
eighteen, thou couldst not cross my resolutions. And as up to 
this date I have managed to sustain myself against any comer, 
there will be methods found to bring thee to reason too. 

" Have I not, on all occasions, meant honorably by you ? Last 
time I got wind of your debts, did I not, as a father, admonish 
you to tell me all ? I would pay all ; you were only to tell me 
the truth; whereupon you said there were still two thousand 
thalers beyond the sum named. I j)aid these also at once, and 
fancied I had made peace with you. And then it was found, 
-by-and-by, you owed many thousands more. And as you knew 
you could not pay, it was as good as if the money had been 
stolen — not to reckon how the French vermin, Month olieu and 
partner, cheated you with their new loans. 

" Nothing touched me so much as that you had not any trust 
in me. All this that I was doing for the aggrandizement of the 
house, the army, and the finances, could only be for you, if you 
made yourself worthy of it. I here declare that I have done all 
things to gain your friendship, and all has been in vain." 



124 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

The Crown Prince, either deeply touched with penitence or 
affecting to be so, again threw himself upon his knees before his 
father, as if imploring pardon. The king continued : 

" Was it not your intention to go to England ?" 

" Yes," the prince replied. 

" Then hear what the consequences would have been. Your 
mother would have got into the greatest misery. I could not 
but have suspected she was the author of the business. Your 
sister I would have cast for life into a place where she would 
never have seen sun or moon again. Then on with my army to 
Hanover, and burn and ravage — yes, if it had cost me life, land, 
and people. Your thoughtless and godless conduct, see what it 
was leading to. I intended to employ you in all manner of 
business, civil and military. But how, after such action, could I 
show your face to my officers ?" 

Here the young prince made the most solemn promises to try 
to regain his father's favor. The king then asked: "Was it 
thou that temptedst Katte, or did Katte tempt thee?" Fritz 
promptly replied, "I tempted Katte." "I am glad," rejoined 
the king, " to hear the truth from you, at any rate." 

The king then rattled on without waiting for replies : " How 
do you like your Ciistrin life ? Do you still have as much aver- 
sion to Wusterhausen, and to wearing your shroud, as you called 
your uniform ? Likely enough my company does not suit you. 
I have no French manners, and can not bring out witty sayings 
in the coxcomb way ; and I truly consider all that as a thing to 
be thrown to the dogs. I am a German prince, and mean to live 
and die in that character. But you can now say what you have 
got by your caprices and obstinate heart, hating every thing 
that I liked, and if I distinguished any one, despising him. If 
an officer was put in arrest, you took to lamenting about him. 
Your real friends, who intended your good, you hated and ca- 
lumniated. Those who flattered you and encouraged your bad 
purpose you caressed. You see what that has come to. In Ber- 
lin, in all Prussia, for some time back, nobody asks after you, 
whether you are in the world or not. And were it not that one 
or the other coming from Ciistrin reports you as playing tennis 
or wearing French hair-bags, nobody would know whether you 
were dead, or alive." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 125 

Grumkow then goes on to relate, quite in detail, that the king 
took up the subject of theology. " He set forth the horrible re- 
sults of that absolute decree notion which makes God the author 
of sin ; and that Jesus Christ died only for some." The prince 
declared that he had thoroughly renounced that heresy. The 
king then added : 

" When godless fellows about you speak against your duties 
to God, the king, and your country, fall instantly on your knees 
and pray with your whole soul to Jesus Christ to deliver you 
from such wickedness, and lead you on better ways. And if it 
come in earnest from your heart, Jesus, who would have all men 
saved, will not leave you unheard." 

The Crown Prince, with what degree of sincerity we know 
not, was now in tears. Prostrating himself before his majesty, 
he kissed his feet. The king, much moved, was in tears also, 
and retired to another room. 

"It being his majesty's birthday," writes Grumkow, "the 
prince, in deep emotion, followed his father, and, again falling 
prostrate, testified such heartfelt joy, gratitude, and affection 
over this blessed anniversary as quite touched the heart of the 
king, who at last clasped him in his arms, and hurried out to 
avoid sobbing aloud. The Crown Prince followed his majesty, 
and, in the presence of many hundred people, kissed his majesty's 
feet, and was again embraced by his majesty, who said, ' Behave 
well, as I see you mean, and I will take care of you.' Which 
words," writes Grumkow, " threw the Crown Prince into such 
an ecstasy of joy as no pen can express." 

Two events occurred at this time highly characteristic of the 
king. There was a nobleman by the name of Schlubhut, occu- 
pying a high official position, who was found a defaulter to the 
■amount of a sum equal to twenty-five thousand dollars. The 
supreme court sentenced him to three or four years' imprison- 
ment. The king was indignant at the mildness of the sentence. 
"What," said he, "when the private thief is sent to the gallows, 
shall a nobleman and a magistrate escape with fine and impris- 
onment?" Schlubhut was immediately sent to prison. All 
night long he was disturbed with the noise of carpentering in 
the castle square in front of his cell. In the morning he saw di- 
rectly before his window a huge gallows erected. Upon that 



126 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



gallows he was immediately hung, and his body was left to 
swing in the wind for several days, some say for weeks. 

Soon after, a soldier, six feet three inches tall, the ringleader 
of a gang, broke into a house and robbed it of property to the 
amount of about fi.ve thousand dollars. He was sentenced to 
be hung. We give the result in the words of Carlyle : 

" Friedrich Wilhelm feels this sad contrast very much ; the 




DISCIPLINING THE JUDGES. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 127 

more, as the soldier is his own chattel withal, and of superlative 
inches. Friedrich Wilhelm flames up into wrath ; sends off swift 
messengers to bring these judges, one and all, instantly into his 
presence. The judges are still in their dressing-gowns, shaving, 
breakfasting. They make what haste they can. So soon as the 
first three or four are reported to be in the anteroom, Friedrich 
Wilhelm, in extreme impatience, has them called in; starts dis- 
coursing with them upon the two weights and two measures. 
Apologies, subterfuges, do but provoke him farther. It is not 
long till he starts up growling terribly, ' Ye scoundrels, how 
could you V and smites down upon the crown of them with the 
royal cudgel itself. Fancy the hurry-scurry, the unforensic atti- 
tudes and pleadings ! Royal cudgel rains blows right and left. 
Blood is drawn, crowns cracked, crowns nearly broken ; and sev- 
eral judges lost a few teeth and had their noses battered before 
they could get out. The second relay, meeting them in this di- 
lapidated state on the staircases, dashed home again without the 
honor of a royal interview. This is an actual scene, of date, Ber- 
lin, 1731, of which no constitutional country can hope to see the 
fellow. Schlubhut he hanged, Schlubhut being only Schlubhut' s 
chattel. This musketeer, his majesty's own chattel, he did not 
hang, but set him shouldering arms again after some preliminary 
dusting." 

The king, after his apparent reconciliation with Fritz, granted 
him a little more liberty. He was appointed to travel over and 
carefully inspect several of the crown domains. He was ordered 
to study thoroughly the practical husbandry of those domains — 
how they were to be" plowed, enriched, and sown. He was also 
to devote his attention to the rearing of cattle ; to the preparing 
of malt and the brewing of ale. " Useful discourse," said the 
king, " is to be kept up with him on these journeys, pointing out 
why this is and that, and whether it could not be better." On 
the 2 2d of September the Crown Prince wrote to his father as 
follows : 

" I have been to Lebus. There is excellent land there ; fine 
weather for the husbandmen. Major Roder passed this way, 
and dined with me last Wednesday. He has got a fine fellow 
for my most all-gracious father's regiment. I depend on my 
most all-gracious father's grace that he will be good to me. I 



128 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ask for nothing, and for no happiness in the world but what 
comes from him ; and hope that he will some day remember me 
in grace, and give me the blue coat to put on again." 

It is very evident, from the glimpses we catch of Fritz at this 
time, that he was a wild fellow, quite frivolous, and with but a 
feeble sense of moral obligation. General Schulenburg, an old 
soldier, of stern principles, visited him at Custrin, and sent an ac- 
count of the interview to Baron Grumkow, under date of October 
4th, 1731. From this letter we cull the following statement : 

" I found him much grown ; an air of health and gayety about 
him. He caressed me greatly. We went to dinner. He asked 
me to sit beside him. Among other things, he said that he liked 
the great world, and was charmed to observe the ridiculous, weak 
side of some people." 

The prince inquired, in quite an indifferent tone, respecting 
the marriages his father had in contemplation for him. He ob- 
jected to the marriage with the Princess of Mecklenberg, niece 
of the Czar Peter, that it would require him to change his relig- 
ion, which he would not do. He expressed himself as inclined 
to take the second daughter of the Emperor of Germany, if the 
emperor would throw in a duchy or two. 

" Since you speak so much of marriages," said the general, " I 
suppose you wish to be married ?" 

" No," the prince replied ; " but if the king absolutely will 
have it, I will marry to obey him. After that I will shove my 
wife into a corner, and live after my own fancy." 

Against this unprincipled declaration General Schulenburg 
remonstrated, declaring it to be unchristian and dishonorable. 
But the prince seemed to regard such suggestions very contempt- 
uously. "I can perceive," the general adds, "that if he mar- 
ries, it will only be that he may have more liberty than now. 
It is certain that if he had his elbows free he would strike out. 
He said to me several times, \ I am young ; I want to profit by 
my youth.' " 

A fortnight later General Schulenburg wrote, under date of 
the 19th of October : " I introduced to the Crown Prince all the 
officers of my regiment who are here. He received them in the 
style of a king. It is certain he feels what he is born to ; and if 
he ever get to it, he will stand on the top of it. As to me, I 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



129 



mean to keep myself retired, and shall see as little of him as I 
can. I perceive well he does not like advice, and does not take 
pleasure except with men inferior to him in mind. His first aim 
is to find out the ridiculous side of every one, and he loves to 
banter and quiz. 

" I assure you he is a prince who has talent, but who will be 
the slave of his passions, and will like nobody but such as en- 
courage him therein. For me, I think all princes are cast in the 
same mould. There is only a more and a less." 

On Tuesday, the 20th of November, 1731, Wilhelmina, eight 
months after her betrothal, was married to the Prince of Bai- 
reuth. The marriage ceremony was attended with great mag- 
nificence in the royal palace of Berlin. The father of Frederick 
William, who was fond of pageantry, had reared one of the most 
sumptuous mansions in Europe, and had furnished it with splen- 




BERLIN PALACE. 



dor which no other court could outvie. Entering the interior 
of the palace through the outer saloon, one passed through nine 
apartments en suite, of grand dimensions, magnificently decora- 
ted, the last of which opened into the picture-gallery, a room 
ninety feet in length, and of corresponding breadth. All these 
were in a line. Then turning, you entered a series of fourteen 
rooms, each more splendid than the preceding. The chandeliers 
were of massive solid silver. The ceilings were exquisitely paint- 



130 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ed by Correggio. Between each pair of windows there were mir- 
rors twelve feet high, and of such width that before each mirror 
tables could be spread for twelve guests. The last of these mag- 
nificent apartments, called the Grand Saloon, was illuminated by 
" a lustre weighing fifty thousand crowns ; the globe of it big 
enough to hold a child of eight years, and the branches of solid 
silver." 

Though Frederick the First had reared and originally fur- 
nished this Berlin palace, yet the masses of solid silver wrought 
into its ornamentation were mainly the work of Frederick Wil- 
liam. Conscious that his influence in Europe depended not only 
upon the power of his army, but also upon the fullness of his 
treasury, he had been striving, through all his reign, to accumu- 
late coin. But the money, barreled up and stored away in the 
vaults of his palace, was of no service while thus lying idle. 
Banking institutions seem not then to have been in vogue in his 
realms. But the silver, wrought into chandeliers, mirror-frames, 
and music balconies, added to the imposing splendor of his court, 
gave him the reputation of great wealth, and could, at any time 
when necessary, be melted down and coined. The wealth thus 
hoarded by the father afterward saved the son from ruin, when 
involved in wars which exhausted his treasury. 

The queen remained bitterly unreconciled to the marriage of 
Wilhelmina with any one but the Prince of Wales. Stung by 
the sense of defeat, she did every thing in her power, by all sorts 
of intrigues, to break off the engagement with the Prince of Bai- 
reuth. When she found her efforts entirely unavailing, she even 
went so far as to take her daughter aside and entreat her, since 
the ceremony must take place, to refuse, after the marriage, to re- 
ceive the Prince of Baireuth as her husband, that the queen 
might endeavor to obtain a divorce. 

The annoyances to which Wilhelmina was exposed, while thus 
preparing for her wedding, must have been almost unendurable. 
Not only her mother was thus persistent and implacable in her 
f hostility, but her father reluctantly submitted to the connection. 
He had fully made up his mind, with all the strength of his in- 
flexible will, that Wilhelmina should marry either the Margrave 
of Schwedt or the Duke of Weissenfels. It was with extreme 
reluctance, and greatly to his chagrin, that the stern old man 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 131 

found himself constrained, perhaps for the first time in his life, 
to yield to others. 

Even Wilhelmina had accepted the Prince of Baireuth, whom 
she had never seen, only to avoid being sacrificed to men whom 
she utterly loathed. Fortunately for the princess, her affections 
were not otherwise engaged, and when introduced to her intend- 
ed she became quite reconciled to the idea of accepting him as 
her husband. 

On the day of the marriage, the princess, having formally re- 
nounced all her rights to the personal property of the family, 
dined with the royal household and her intended, and then re- 
tired to her apartment to dress for the wedding. It would seem 
that the queen must have become quite insane upon this point. 
Even at this late hour she did every thing she could to delay 
operations and to gain time, hoping every moment that some 
courier would arrive from England with proposals which would 
induce the king to break off the engagement. As fast as the 
princess's hair on one side was dressed the queen would contrive 
to undo it, so that at last the hair would no longer curl, making 
her look, as Wilhelmina said, " like a mad woman." She adds : 

"A royal crown was placed upon my head, together with twen- 
ty-four curls of false hair, each as big as my arm. I could not 
hold up my head, as it was too weak for so great a weight. My 
gown was a very rich silver brocade, trimmed with gold lace, and 
my train was twelve yards long. I thought I should have died 
under this dress." 

The marriage took place in the Grand Saloon. The moment 
the benediction was pronounced, a triple discharge of cannon an- 
nounced the event to the inhabitants of Berlin. Then the new- 
ly-married pair, seated under a gorgeous canopy, received the 
congratulations of the court. A ball followed, succeeded by a 
supper. After supper there came, according to the old German 
custom, what was called the dance of torches. This consisted of 
the whole company marching to music in procession through the 
rooms, each holding a lighted torch. The marriage festivities 
were continued for several days, with a succession of balls each 
night. Wilhelmina had not yet been permitted to see her broth- 
er since his arrest. But the king had promised Wilhelmina, as 
her reward for giving up the wretched Prince of Wales, that he 



132 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

would recall her brother and restore him to favor. On Friday 
evening, the 23d, three days after the wedding, there was a bril 
liant ball in the Grand Apartment. Wilhelmina thus describes 
the event which then took place : 

" I liked dancing, and was taking advantage of my chances. 
Grumkow came up to me, in the middle of a minuet, and said 
1 Mon dieu 7 niadame, you seem to have got bit by the tarantula, 
Don't you see those strangers who have just come in V I stop 
ped short, and, looking all around, I noticed at last a young man 
dressed in gray, whom I did not know. i Go, then,' said Grum- 
kow, ' and embrace the Grown Prince. There he is before you. 
My whole frame was agitated with joy. ' Oh, heavens, my broth- 
er!' cried I; 'but I do not see him. Where is he? For God's 
Bake show him to me.' 

" Grumkow led me to the young man in gray. Coming near, 
I recognized him, though with difficulty. He had grown much 
stouter, and his neck was much shorter. His face also was much 
changed, and was no longer as handsome as it had been. I fell 
upon his neck. I was so overcome that I could only speak in 
an unconnected manner. I wept, I laughed like a person out of 
her senses. In my life I have never felt so lively a joy. After 
these first emotions were subsided I went and threw myself at 
the feet of the king, who said to me aloud, in the presence of my 
brother, 

'"'Are you content with me? You see that I have kept my 
word with you.' 

" I took my brother by the hand, and implored the king to re- 
store his affection to him. This scene was so touching that it 
drew tears from all present. I then approached the queen. She 
was obliged to embrace me, the king being close opposite. But 
I remarked that her joy was only affected. I turned to my broth- 
er again. I gave him a thousand caresses, to all which he re- 
mained cold as ice, and answered only in monosyllables. I pre- 
sented to him my husband, to whom he did not say one word. 
I was astonished at this; but I laid the blame of it on the king, 
who was observing us, and who I judged might be intimidating 
my brother. But even the countenance of my brother surprised 
me. He wore a proud air, and seemed to look down upon every 
body." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



133 




THE RECONCILIATION. 



Neither the king nor the Crown Prince appeared at the sup- 
per. With a select circle, to which neither Wilhelmina nor her 
mother were admitted, they supped in a private apartment. At 
the report that the king was treating the Crown Prince with 
great friendliness, the queen could not conceal her secret pique. 
" In fact," says Wilhelmina, " she did not love her children ex- 
cept as they served her ambitious views." She was jealous of 



134 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Wilhelrnina because she, and not her mother, had been the means 
of the release of Fritz. After supper the dancing was resumed, 
and Wilhelrnina embraced an opportunity to ask her brother 
why he was so changed, and why he treated her so coldly. He 
assured her that he was not changed ; that his reserve w-as ex- 
ternal only; that he had reasons for his conduct. Still he did 
not explain his reasons, and Wilhelrnina remained wounded and 
bewildered. 

Before the king released the Crown Prince he extorted from 
him an oath that he would be, in all respects, obedient to his fa- 
ther ; that he would never again attempt to escape, or take any 
journey without permission; that he would scrupulously dis- 
charge all the duties of religion, and that he would marry any 
princess whom his father might select for him. The next morn- 
ing, after the interview to which we have above alluded, the 
prince called upon his sister. They had a short private inter- 
view, Madam Sonsfeld alone being present. The prince gave a 
recital of his adventures and misfortunes during the many months 
since they last had met. The princess gave an account of her 
great trials, and how she had consented to a marriage, which 
was not one of her choice, to obtain her brother's release. 

" He appeared," she writes, " quite discountenanced at this last 
part of my narrative. He returned thanks for the obligations I 
have laid on him, with some caressings which evidently did not 
proceed from the heart. To break this conversation he started 
some indifferent topic, and, under pretense of seeing my apart- 
ment, moved into the next room, where the prince, my husband, 
was. Him he surveyed with his eyes from head to foot for some 
time; then, after some constrained civilities to him, he went his 
way." 

Wilhelrnina and her husband soon left for Baireuth. Though 
the princess thus left the splendors of a royal palace for the far 
more quiet and humble state of a ducal mansion, still she was 
glad to escape from a home where she had experienced so many 
sorrows. 

" Berlin," she writes, " had become as odious to me as it once 
was dear. I flattered myself that, renouncing grandeurs, I might 
lead a soft and tranquil life in my new home, and begin a hap- 
pier year than the one which had just ended." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 135 

As the king was about to take leave of his child, whom he 
had treated so cruelly, he was very much overcome by emotion. 
It is a solemn hour, in any family, when a daughter leaves the 
parental roof, never to return again but as a visitor. Whether 
the extraordinary development of feeling which the stern old 
monarch manifested on the occasion was the result of nervous 
sensibility, excited by strong drink or by parental affection, it is 
not easy to decide. Wilhelmina, in a few words of intense emo- 
tion, bade her father farewell. 

" My discourse," she writes, " produced its effect. He melted 
into tears, and could not answer me for sobs. He explained his 
thoughts by his embracings of me. Making an effort at length, 
he said, ' I am in despair that I did not know thee. They had 
told me such horrible tales — I hated thee as much as I now love 
thee. If I had addressed myself direct to thee I should have es- 
caped much trouble, and thou too. But they hindered me from 
speaking. They said that thou wert ill-natured as the devil, and 
wouldst drive to extremities, which I wanted to avoid. Thy 
mother, by her intriguings, is in part the cause of the misfortunes 
of the family. I have been deceived and duped on every side. 
But my hands are tied. Though my heart is torn in pieces, I 
must leave these iniquities unpunished.' " 

" The queen's intentions were always good," Wilhelmina kind- 
ly urged. The king replied, " Let us not enter into that detail. 
What is past is past. I will try to forget it. You are the dear- 
est to me of all the family. I am too sad of heart to take leave 
of you. Embrace your husband on my part. I am so overcome 
that I must not see him." 

Wilhelmina, with flooded eyes, entered her carriage, bidding 
a final adieu to the home of her childhood, where she had passed 
through so many scenes, eventful and afflictive. Though she aft- 
erward visited Berlin, it was her home no more. The Crown 
Prince returned to Custrin, where he impatiently awaited his fu- 
ture destinies. 



136 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

THE MARRIAGE OF THE CROWN PRINCE. 

Matrimonial Intrigues. — Letters from the King to his Son. — Letter from Eritz to Grumkow. — 
Letter to Wilhelmina. — The Betrothal. — Character of Elizabeth. — Her cruel Reception by 
the Prussian Queen. — Letter from Eritz to Wilhelmina. — Disappointment and Anguish of 
Elizabeth. — Studious Habits of Fritz. — Continued Alienation of his Father. — The Marriage. 
— Life in the Castle at Reinsberg. 

Upon the return of the Crown Prince to Clistrin after the 
marriage of Wilhelmina, several of the officers of the army sent 
in a petition to the king that he would restore to the prince his 
uniform and his military rank. The king consented, and made 
out his commission anew as colonel commandant of the Goltz 
regiment at Ruppin. This was a small town about seventy-five 
miles northeast of Berlin. His commission was signed on the 
29th of February, 1732, he being then twenty years of age. In 
this little hamlet, mainly engaged in the dull routine of garrison 
duties, the prince passed most of his time for the next eight 
years. 

The Crown Prince was quite exasperated that the English 
court would not listen to his earnest plea for the marriage of 
Wilhelmina to the Prince of Wales, and accept his vows of fidel- 
ity to the Princess Amelia. The stubborn adhesion of the King 
of England to the declaration of " both marriages or none" so 
annoyed him that he banished Amelia from his thoughts. In 
his reckless way he affirmed that the romance of marriage was 
all over with him ; that he cared not much what bride was 
forced upon him, provided only that she were rich, and that she 
were not too scrupulous in religious principle. The tongues of 
all the court gossips were busy upon this theme. Innumerable 
were the candidates suggested to share the crown of the future 
Prussian king. The Archduchess Maria Theresa, subsequently 
the renowned Empress of Germany, was proposed by Prince 
Eugene. But the imperial court could not wed its Catholic 
heiress to a Protestant prince. Still the emperor, though un- 
willing to give his daughter to the Crown Prince, was anxious 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 137 

for as close an alliance as possible with Prussia, and recommend- 
ed a niece of the empress, the young Princess Elizabeth Chris- 
tina, only daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick Be vera. 
She was seventeen years of age, rather pretty, with a fine com- 
plexion, not rich, of religious tastes, and remarkably quiet and 
domestic in her character. 

The Crown Prince did not fancy this connection at all. His 
first wish was to journey about, through the courts of Europe, 
to select him a wife. But that measure his father would not 
think of. Frederick professed a willingness to submit to marry 
Anna, Princess of Mecklenberg, or the Princess of Eisenach. 
Seckendorf, the embassador of the emperor, aided by Grumkow, 
who had been bribed, urged the marriage with Elizabeth. The 
king adopted their views. His decision was like a decree of 
fate. The following letter, written by the king to his son, dated 
Potsdam, February 4, 1732, very clearly expresses his views: 

" My dear Son Fritz, — I am glad you need no more medicine. 
But you must have a care of yourself some days yet, for the se- 
vere weather gives me and every body colds. So pray be on 
your guard. 

" You know, my dear son, that when my children are obedient 
I love them much. So when you were at Berlin, I from my 
heart forgave you every thing ; and from that Berlin time, since 
I saw you, have thought of nothing but of your well-being, and 
how to establish you ; not in the army only, but also with a 
right step-daughter, and so see you married in my lifetime. You 
may be well persuaded I have had the Princesses of Germany 
taken survey of, so far as possible, and examined by trusty peo- 
ple what their conduct is, their education, and so on. And so a 
princess has been found, the eldest one of Be vera, who is well 
brought up, modest and retiring as a woman ought to be. 

" You will quickly write me your mind on this. I have pur- 
chased the Von Katsch house. The field marshal, as governor 
of Berlin, will get that to live in. His government house I will 
have made new for you, and furnish it all, and give you enough 
to keep house yourself there. 

" The princess is not ugly nor beautiful. You must mention 
it to no mortal. Write indeed to mamma that I have written 



138 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

to you. And when you shall have a son, I will let you go on 
your travels ; wedding, however, can not be before next winter. 
Meanwhile I will try and contrive opportunity that you see one 
another a few times, in all honor, yet so that you get acquainted 
with her. She is a God-fearing creature, will suit herself to you, 
as she does to the parents-in-law. 

" God give his blessing to it, and bless you and your posterity, 
and keep you as a good Christian. And have God always be- 
fore your eyes, and don't believe that damnable predestination 
tenet ; and be obedient and faithful. So shall it here in time, 
and there in eternity, go well with thee. And whosoever wish- 
es that from the heart, let him say Amen. 

" Your true father to the death, 

" Friedrich Wilhelm. 

"When the Duke of Lorraine comes I will have thee come. 
I think the bride will be here then. Adieu ; God be with you." 

One week after the reception of this letter the Crown Prince 
wrote to Baron Grumkow in the following flippant and revolt- 
ing strain. He probably little imagined that the letter was to 
be read by all Europe and all America. But those whose paths 
through life lead over the eminences of rank and power can not 
conceal their words or deeds from the scrutiny of the world. 
Grumkow, a very shrewd man, had contrived to secure influence 
over both the father and the son. The prince's letter was dated 
Custrin, February 11, 1732 : 

"My dear General and Friend, — I was charmed to learn, 
by your letter, that my affairs are on so good a footing. You 
may depend on it I am prepared to follow your advice. I will 
lend myself to whatever is possible for me. And, provided I 
can secure the king's favor by my obedience, I will do all that 
is within my power. 

"Nevertheless, in making my bargain with the Duke of Be- 
vern, manage that my intended be brought up under her grand- 
mother.* I should rather have a wife who would dishonor me 
than to marry a blockhead who would drive me mad by her 
awkwardness, and whom I should be ashamed to produce. 

* The grandmother was a very gay, fashionable woman, entirely devoted to pleasure. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 139 

" I beg you labor at this affair. When one hates romantic 
heroines as heartily as I do, one dreads those timid virtues ; and 
I had rather marry the greatest profligate* in Berlin than a dev- 
otee with half a dozen bigots at her beck. If it were still possi- 
ble to make her a Calvinist ! But I doubt that. I will insist, 
however, that her grandmother have the training of her. What 
you can do to help me in this, my dear friend, I am persuaded 
you will do. 

" It afflicted me a little that the king still has doubts of me, 
while I am obeying in such a matter diametrically opposite to 
my own ideas. In what way shall I offer stronger proofs ? I 
may give myself to the devil, it will be to no purpose. Nothing 
but the old song over again, doubt on doubt. Don't imagine 
I am going to disoblige the duke, the duchess, or the daughter, 
I beseech you. I know too well what is due to them, and too 
much respect their merits, not to observe the strictest rules of 
what is proper, even if I hated their progeny and them like the 
pestilence. 

" I hope to speak to you with open heart at Berlin. You may 
think, too, how I shall be embarrassed in having to act the lover 
without being it, and to feign a passion for mute ugliness; for 
I have not much faith in Count Seckendorf 's taste in this article. 
Monsieur, once more get this princess to learn by heart the Ecole 
des Maris and the Ecole des Eemmes. That will clo her much 
more good than True Christianity by the late Arnclt. If, be- 
side, she would learn steadiness of humor, learn music, become 
rather too free than too virtuous — ah ! then, my dear general, 
then I should feel some liking for her ; and a Colin marrying a 
Phillis, the couple would be in accordance. But if she is stupid, 
naturally I renounce the devil and her. 

. "It is said she has a sister who at least has common sense. 
Why take the eldest, if so ? To the king it must be all one. 
There is also a princess, Christina Marie, of Eisenach, who would 
be quite my fit, and whom I should like to try for. In fine, I 
mean soon to come into your countries, and perhaps will say, 
like Csesar, Veni, vidi, viciP 

In another letter to Grumkow, he writes : " As to what you 
tell me of the Princess of Mecklenberg, could not I marry her? 

* The prince used a harsher term, which we can not quote. 



140 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

She would have a dowry of two or three million rubles.* Only 
fancy how I could live with that. I think that project might 
succeed. I find none of these advantages in the Princess of Be- 
vern, who, as many people even of the duke's court say, is not at 
all beautiful, speaks almost nothing, and is given to pouting. 
The good empress has so little money herself that the sums she 
could afford her niece would be very moderate." 

Again, on the 19th of February, 1732, the Crown Prince wrote 
from Custrin to Baron Grumkow. From his letter we make the 
following extracts : 

" Judge, my dear general, if I have been much charmed with 
the description you give of the abominable object of my desires. 
For the love of God disabuse the king in regard to her. Let 
him remember that fools are commonly the most obstinate of 
creatures. Let the king remember that it is not for himself that 
he is marrying me, but for myself. Nay, he too will have a 
thousand chagrins to see two persons hating one another, and 
the most miserable marriage in the world ; to hear their mutual 
complaints, which will be to him so many reproaches for having 
fashioned the instrument of our yoke. As a good Christian, let 
him consider if it is well done to wish to force people, to cause 
divorces, and to be the occasion of all the sins that an ill-assorted 
marriage leads us to commit. I am determined to front every 
thing in the world sooner. Since things are so, you may, in 
some good way, apprise the Duke of Bevern that, happen what 
may, I never will have her. 

" I have been unhappy all my life, and I think it is my destiny 
to continue so. One must be patient, and take the time as it 
comes. Perhaps a sudden tract of good fortune, on t the back of 
all the chagrins I have encountered since I entered this world, 
would have made me too proud. I have suffered sufficiently, 
and I will not engage myself to extend my miseries into future 
times. I have still resources. A pistol-shot can deliver me from 
my sorrows and my life, and I think a merciful God would not 
damn me for that, but, taking pity on me, would, in exchange 
for a life of wretchedness, srant me salvation. This is whither- 
ward despair can lead a young person whose blood is not so 
quiescent as if he were seventy. 

* A ruble was about eighty-five cents of our money. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 141 

" I have received a letter from the king, all agog about the 
princess. When his first fire of approbation is spent, you might, 
praising her all the while, lead him to notice her faults. Mon 
Dieu, has he not already seen what an ill-assorted marriage comes 
to — my sister of Anspach and her husband, who hate one anoth- 
er like the fire \ He has a thousand vexations from it every day. 

" And what aim has the king ? If it is to assure himself of 
me, that is not the way. Madam of Eisenach might do it, but a 
fool not. On the contrary, it is morally impossible to love the 
cause of our misery. The king is reasonable, and I am persuaded 
he will understand this himself." 

To his sister, Fritz wrote, about the same time, in a more sub- 
dued strain, referring simply to his recent life in Custrin : " Thus 
far my lot has been a tolerably happy one. I have lived quiet- 
ly in the garrison. My flute, my books, and a few affectionate 
friends have made my way of life there sufficiently agreeable. 
They now want to force me to abandon all this in order to mar- 
ry me to the Princess of Bevern, whom I do not know. Must 
one always be tyrannized over without any hope of a change ? 
Still, if my dear sister were only here, I should endure all with 
patience." 

Queen Sophie, who still clung pertinaciously to the idea of 
the English match, was, of course, bitterly hostile to the nuptial 
alliance with Elizabeth. Indeed, the queen still adhered to the 
idea of the double English marriage, and exhausted all the arts 
of diplomacy and intrigue in the endeavor to secure the Princess 
Amelia for the Crown Prince, and to unite the Prince of Wales 
to a younger sister of Wilhelmina. Very naturally she cherish- 
ed feelings of strong antipathy' toward Elizabeth, who seemed 
to be the cause, though the innocent cause, of the frustration of 
her plans. She consequently spoke of the princess in the most 
contemptuous manner, and did every thing in her power to in- 
duce her son to regard her with repugnance. But nothing could 
change the inexorable will of the king. Early in March the 
doomed Princess Elizabeth, a beautiful, artless child of seventeen 
years, who had seen but little of society, and was frightened in 
view of the scenes before her, was brought to Berlin to be be- 
trothed to the Crown Prince, whom she had never seen, of whom 
she could not have heard any very favorable reports, and from 



142 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

whom she had never received one word of tenderness. The 
. wreck of happiness of this young princess, which was borne so 
meekly and uncomplainingly, is one of the saddest which history 
records. Just before her arrival, Fritz wrote to his sister as fol- 
lows. The letter was dated Berlin, March 6, 1732 : 

"My dearest Sister, — Next Monday comes my betrothal, 
which will be done just as yours was. The person in question 
is neither beautiful nor ugly ; not wanting in sense, but very ill 
brought up, timid, and totally behind in fashionable address. 
That is the candid portrait of the princess. You may judge by 
that, my dearest sister, if I find her to my taste or not. 

" You never can believe, my adorable sister, how concerned I 
am about your happiness. All my wishes centre there, and every 
moment of my life I form such wishes. You may see by this 
that I preserve still that sincere friendship which has united our 
hearts from our tenderest years. Recognize at least, my dear 
sister, that you did me a sensible wrong when you suspected me 
of fickleness toward you, and believed false reports of my listen- 
ing to tale-bearers — me, who love only you, and whom neither 
absence nor lying rumors could change in respect of you. At 
least, don't again believe such things on my score, and never mis- 
trust me till you have had clear proof, or till God has forsaken 
me, or I have lost my wits. 

" Your most humble brother and servant, 

" Frederick." 

The betrothal took place in the Berlin palace on Monday 
evening, March 10, 1732. Many distinguished guests from for- 
eign courts were present. The palace was brilliantly illumin- 
ated. The Duke and Duchess of Bevern, with their son, had ac- 
companied their daughter Elizabeth to Berlin. The youthful 
pair, who were now to be betrothed only, not married, stood in 
the centre of the grand saloon, surrounded by the brilliant assem- 
blage. With punctilious observance of court etiquette, they ex- 
changed rings, and plighted their mutual faith. The old king 
embraced the bride tenderly. The queen-mother, hoping that 
the marriage would never take place, saluted her with repulsive 
coldness. And, worst of all, the prince himself scarcely treated 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



143 




THE BETROTHAL. 



her with civility. The sufferings of this lovely princess must 
have been terrible. The testimony to her beauty, her virtues, 
her amiable character, is uncontradicted. The following well- 
merited tribute to her worth is from the pen of Lord Dover : 

" Elizabeth Christina, who became the wife of Frederick the 
Great, was a princess adorned with all the virtues which most 
dignify human nature; religious, benevolent, charitable, affec- 



144 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

tionate, of the strictest and most irreproachable conduct herself, 
yet indulgent and forgiving for the faults of others. Her whole 
life was passed in fulfilling the circle of her duties, and, above 
all, in striving without ceasing to act in the way she thought 
would be most pleasing to her husband, whom she respected, ad- 
mired, and even loved, in spite of his constant neglect of her." 

Baron Bielfeld, a member of the court, thus describes her per- 
sonal appearance : " Her royal highness is tall of stature, and 
her figure is perfect. Never have I seen a more regular shape 
in all its proportions. Her neck, her hands, and her feet might, 
serve as models to the painter. Her hair, which I have particu- 
larly admired, is of a most beautiful flaxen, but somewhat inclin- 
ing to white, and shines, when not powdered, like rows of pearls. 
Her complexion is remarkably fine ; and in her large blue eyes 
vivacity and sweetness are so happily blended as to make them 
perfectly animated. 

"The princess has an open countenance; her eyebrows are 
neat and regular ; her nose is small and angular, but very ele- 
gantly defined; and her coral lips and well-turned neck are 
equally admirable. Goodness is strongly marked in her coun- 
tenance ; and we may say, from her whole figure, that the Graces 
have exerted themselves in forming a great princess. Her high- 
ness talks but little, especially at table, but all she says is ster- 
ling sense. She appears to have an uncommon genius, which 
she ornaments by the continual study of the best French au- 
thors." 

The reception of the princess was so cruel, by Queen Sophie 
and her younger daughter Charlotte, that the inexperienced 
maiden of but seventeen summers must have been perfectly 
wretched. But she could only bear her anguish in* silence. 
There was nothing for her to say, and nothing for her to do. She 
was led, by resistless powers, a victim to the sacrifice. 

About three weeks after this sad betrothal, Fritz wrote to his 
sister Wilhelmina, under date of Berlin, March 24, 1732, as fol- 
lows : 

" God be praised, my dearest sister, that you are better. No- 
body can love you more tenderly than I do. As to the Princess 
of Bevern, the queen bids me answer that you need not style her 
1 Highness,' but that you may write to her quite as to an indif- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 145 

ferent princess. As to ' kissing the hands,' I assure you I have 
not kissed thern nor will kiss them. They are not pretty enough 
to tempt me that way. 

" Believe, my charming sister, that never brother in the world 
loved with such tenderness a sister so charming as mine." 

The betrothed princess, bewildered, wounded, heart-broken, 
returned with her parents to her home, there to await the con- 
summation of her sacrifice by being married to a..man who had 
never addressed to her a loving word, and who, in his heart, had 
resolved never to receive her as his wife. The Crown Prince, un- 
feeling and reckless, returned to his dissolute life in garrison at 
Kuppin. The queen continued an active correspondence with 
England, still hoping to break the engagement of her son with 
Elizabeth, and to secure for him the Princess Amelia. 

Ruppin, where the Crown Prince continued to reside for sev- 
eral years, was a small, dull town of about two thousand inhab- 
itants. The only life it exhibited was found in the music and 
drillings of the garrison. The only important event in its his- 
tory was the removal of the Crown Prince there. Of what is 
called society there was none. The hamlet was situated in the 
midst of a flat, marshy country, most of it quite uncultivated. 
The region abounded in peat bogs, and dark, still lakes, well 
stocked with fish. 

A comfortable house, with garden and summer-house, was pro- 
vided for the Crown Prince. He occasionally gave a dinner- 
party to his brother officers ; and from the summer-house rock- 
ets were thrown into the sky, to the great gratification of the 
rustic peasantry. 

Both father and son had become by this time fully satisfied 
that their tastes and characters were so different that it was not 
best for them to live near each other. The prince spent much 
of his time with his flute. He also engaged in quite a wide 
range of reading to occupy the listless hours. Works of the 
most elevated and instructive character especially interested him, 
such as history, biography, moral and intellectual philosophy, 
and polite literature in its higher branches of poetry and the 
drama. " What mankind have done and been in this world," 
writes Carlyle, " and what the wisest men, poetical or other, have 
thought about mankind and their world, this is what he evi- 

K 



146 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

dently had the appetite for — appetite insatiable, which lasted 
him to the very end of his days." 

It is unquestionable that the mental discipline acquired by 
this elevated course, to which he consecrated so diligently his 
hours, prepared him for the wonderful career upon which he 
soon entered, and enabled him to act with efficiency which filled 
Europe with his renown. 

It appears, moreover, that Fritz devoted himself very assidu- 
ously to his military duties, earnestly studying the art of war, 
and making himself familiar with the achievements of the most 
renowned commanders. His frugal father allowed him but a 
very meagre income for a prince — not above four thousand five 
hundred dollars a year. With this sum it was scarcely possible 
to keep up even the appearance of such an establishment as be- 
longed to his rank. Such glimpses as we get of his moral and 
social developments during this period are not favorable. He 
paid no respect to the claims of religion, and was prone to revile 
Christianity and its advocates. He was particularly annoyed 
if the chaplain uttered, in his sermons, any sentiments which the 
prince thought had a bearing against the sensual indulgences 
and the wild amusements of himself and his companions. On 
one occasion the chaplain said in his sermon, " There was Her- 
od, who had Herodias to dance before him, and he gave her 
John the Baptist's head for her pains." 

The prince assumed to make a personal application of this. 
Herod meant the Crown Prince ; Herodias, his boon companions'; 
and John the Baptist was the chaplain. To punish the offender, 
the prince, with several brother officers, went at night, smashed 
the windows of the chaplain, and threw in a shower of fire-crack- 
ers upon him and his wife, who was in delicate healthy driving 
them in dismay out into the stable-yard. The stern old king 
was very indignant at this conduct. Grumkow affirms, we hope 
falsely, that the prince threw the whole charge upon his asso- 
ciate officers, and that they were punished for the deed, while he 
escaped. 

Thus the summer of 1732 passed away. In November Wil- 
helmina returned from Baireuth to Berlin on a visit. She re- 
mained at home for ten months, leaving her babe, Frederica, at 
Baireuth. There must have been some urgent reason to have 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 147 

induced her to make this long visit, for her reception, by both 
father and mother, was far from cordial. Neither of them had 
been really in favor of the match with the young prospective 
Margraf of Baireuth, but had yielded to it from the force of cir- 
cumstances. The journey to Berlin was long and cold. Her 
mother greeted her child with the words, "What do you want 
here? What is a mendicant like you come hither for?" The 
next day her father, who had been upon a journey, came home. 
His daughter had been absent for two years. And yet this 
strange father addressed her in the following cruel and sarcastic 
words : 

"Ah ! here you are. I am glad to see you." Then, taking a 
light, he carefully examined her from head to foot. After a mo- 
ment's silence, he added, " How changed you are ! I am sorry 
for you, on my word. You have not bread to eat, and but for 
me you might go a-begging. I am a poor man myself; not able 
to give you much ; will do what I can. I will give you now 
and then twenty or thirty shillings, as my affairs permit. It will 
always be something to assuage your want. And you, madam," 
turning to the queen, " will sometimes give her an old dress, for 
the poor child hasn't a shift to her back." 

This merciless banter from her parents cut the unhappy prin- 
cess to the heart. With the utmost difficulty she refrained from 
bursting into convulsive crying. Her husband seems to have 
been a kind man, inspired with true and tender affection for his 
wife. But much of the time he was necessarily absent on regi- 
mental duty. The old Marquis of Baireuth, her husband's fa- 
ther, was penurious, irascible, and an inebriate. Wilhelmina often 
suffered for the necessaries of life. There seemed to be no refuge 
for her. The home of her step-parents was unendurable, and 
the home of her childhood was still more so. Few and far be- 
tween must have been the joys which visited her crushed heart. 

A few days after her arrival at Berlin, Fritz, on short leave of 
absence, ran over from Ruppin, and had a brief interview with 
his sister, whom he had not seen since her marriage. The royal 
family supped together, with the exception of the king, who was 
absent. At the table the conversation turned upon the future 
princess royal, Elizabeth. The queen said, addressing Wilhel- 
mina, and fixing her eyes on Fritz, 



148 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

"Your brother is in despair at the idea of marrying her. And 
he is not wrong. She is an actual fool. She can only answer 
whatever is said to her by yes or no, accompanied by a silly 
laugh, which is painful to hear." ^—^__^ 

Charlotte added, in terms still more bitter and unpardonable, 
"Your majesty is not yet aware of all her merit. I was one 
morning at her toilet. I remarked that she is deformed. Her 
gown is stuffed on one side, and she has one hip higher than the 
other." The cruel girl even went so far as to accuse the prin- 
cess of suffering from loathsome ulcers. This discourse was ut- 
tered in a loud voice, in presence of the domestics. Fritz was 
evidently greatly annoyed, and blushed deeply, but said noth- 
ing. Immediately after supper he retired. Wilhelrnina soon fol- 
lowed him, and they met again privately in Wilhelmina's room. 
The princess asked her brother how he was now getting along 
with his father. He replied, 

" My situation changes every moment. Sometimes I am in fa- 
vor, sometimes in disgrace. My chief happiness consists in my 
being absent from him. I lead a quiet and tranquil life with 
my regiment at Kuppin. Study and music are my principal oc- 
cupations. I have built me a house there, and laid out a garden 
where I can read and walk about." 

"Then," writes Wilhelmina, "as to his bride, I begged him to 
tell me candidly if the portrait the queen and my sister had been 
making of her were the true one." 

" We are alone," Fritz replied, " and I will conceal nothing from 
you. The queen, by her miserable intrigues, has been the source 
of our misfortunes. Scarcely were you gone when she began 
again with England. She wished to substitute our sister Char- 
lotte for you, and to contrive her marriage with the Prince of 
Wales. 

"You may easily imagine that she used every endeavor for 
the success of her plan, and also to marry me to the English 
Princess Amelia. The king was informed of this design from 
its commencement. He was much nettled at these fresh in- 
trigues, which have caused many quarrels between the queen 
and him. Seckendorf finally took part in the affair, and coun- 
seled the king to make an end of all these plans by concluding 
my marriage with the Princess of Bevern. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 149 

" The queen can not console herself for this reverse. She vents 
her despair in the abuse of that poor princess. She wanted me 
to refuse the marriage decidedly, and told me that she should 
not mind my quarreling again with the king provided I would 
only show firmness, in which case she would be well able to 
support me. I would not follow her advice, and declared to her 
plainly that I did not choose to incur the displeasure of my fa- 
ther, which had already caused me so much suffering. 

"With regard to the princess herself, I do not dislike her as 
much as I pretend. I affect not to be able to bear her, in order 
to make the more merit of my obedience to the king. She is 
pretty — a complexion of lily and rose. Her features are deli- 
cate, and her whole face is that of a beautiful person. She has 
no breeding, and dresses ill. But I flatter myself that when she 
comes here you will have the goodness to assist in forming her. 
I recommend her to you, my dear sister ; and I hope you will 
take her under your protection." 

On Monday, the 8th of June, 1733, the Crown Prince left Kup- 
pin, and, joining his father and mother, set out, with a suitable 
retinue, for the ducal palace of Salzdahlum, in Brunswick, where 
the marriage ceremony was to be solemnized. Fritz was twen- 
ty-one years of age. Elizabeth was not quite eighteen. The 
wedding took place at noon of Friday, the 12th, in the beautiful 
chapel of the palace, with the usual display of splendor and re- 
joicing. The mansion, situated a few miles from Wolfenbiittel, 
was renowned for its gardens and picture-galleries, and was con- 
sidered one of the finest in Europe. 

The ceremony was performed by the Keverend Johann Lorenz 
Mosheim, favorably known throughout Christendom for his treat- 
ise upon Ecclesiastical History. Immediately after the nuptial 
benediction had been pronounced, Fritz wrote as follows to Wil- 
li elniin a : 

" Salzdahlum, Noon, June 12, 1 733. 

" My dear Sister, — A minute since the whole ceremony was 
finished. God be praised, it is over. I hope you will take it as 
a mark of my friendship that I give you the first news of it. I 
hope that I shall have the honor to see you again soon, and to 
assure you, my dear sister, that I am wholly yours. I write in 
great haste, and add nothing that is merely formal. Adieu. 

" Frederick." 



150 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

The queen behaved very unainiably, " plunged in black melan- 
choly," and treating her new daughter-in-law with great con- 
tempt. There have been many sad weddings, but this was surely 
one of the saddest. Frederick had often declared that he never 
would receive the princess as his wife. In the evening, just after 
the newly-married couple had retired to their room, through the 
arrangement of the prince, a false alarm of fire was raised by 
some of his friends. This furnished him with the opportunity 
to rush from the apartment. He did not return. Ever after 
he saw the princess but unfrequently, treating her with cold po- 
liteness when they met, though on public occasions giving her, 
with all external forms of civility, the position of honor to which, 
as his wedded wife, she was entitled. 

It was apparently easy for the Crown Prince to relinquish 
Amelia. But the English princess, being very unhappy at home, 
had fixed her affections upon Frederick with the most romantic 
tenderness. In beauty of person, in chivalric reputation, in ex- 
alted rank, he was every thing an imaginative maiden could have 
desired. She regarded him probably as, in heart, true to her. 
He had often sent his protestations to the English court that he 
would never marry any one but Amelia. Though the marriage 
ceremony had been performed with Elizabeth, he recognized only 
its legal tie. Poor Amelia was heart-crushed. Earth had no lon- 
ger any joys for her. She never married, but wore the miniature 
of the prince upon her breast for the rest of her days. We have 
no record of the weary years during which grief was consuming 
her life. Her eyelids became permanent^ swollen with weep- 
ing. And when, at the age of sixty, she died, the miniature of 
the Crown Prince was still found resting upon her true and faith- 
ful heart. Amelia and Elizabeth — how sad their fate ! Through 
no fault of their own, earth was to them both truly a vale of 
tears. The only relief from the contemplation of the terrible 
tragedies of earth is found in the hope that the sufferers may 
find compensation in a heavenly home. 

On Tuesday, the 16th, the King and Queen of Prussia left 
Salzdahlum to return to Potsdam. At the close of the week 
the Crown Prince and his bride, escorted by a brilliant retinue 
of Brunswick notabilities, set out on their return. In most of 
the intervening towns they were received with great pomp. On 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 151 

the 27th, the last day of the next week, the bridal pair had a 
grand entrance into Berlin. The troops were all out upon pa- 
rade. The clang of bells, the roar of cannon, and peals of mar- 
tial music filled the air. All the inhabitants of Berlin and the 
surrounding region were in the streets, which were spanned by 
triumj3hal arches, and garlanded with flowers. Gladly would 
the princess have exchanged all this for one loving word from 
her husband. But that word was not uttered. Two days be- 
fore the grand reception at Berlin the princess arrived at Pots- 
dam. Here Wilhelmina, for the first time, met her cruelly- 
wronged and heart-crushed sister-in-law. In the following terms 
she describes the interview : 

" The king led the princess into the queen's apartment. Then 
seeing, after she had saluted us all, that she was much heated 
and her hair deranged, he bade my brother take her to her own 
room. I followed them thither. My brother said to her, intro- 
ducing me, 

" ' This is a sister I adore, and to whom I am obliged beyond 
measure. She has the goodness to promise me that she will 
take care of you and help you with her good counsel. I wish 
you to respect her beyond even the king and queen, and not to 
take the least step without her advice. Do you understand V 

" I embraced the Princess Royal," Wilhelmina continues, " and 
gave her every assurance of my attachment. But she remained 
like a statue, not answering a word. Her people not being come, 
I arranged her hair and readjusted her dress a little, without the 
least sign of thanks or any answer to all my caressings. My 
brother got impatient at last, and said aloud, 

" ' Devil's in the blockhead ! Thank my sister, then V 

"She made me a courtesy on the model of that of Agnes in 
the Ecole des Femmes. I took her back to the queen's apart- 
ment, little edified by such a display of talent." 

It is probable that the princess, in the strangeness of her po- 
sition, very young and inexperienced, and insulted by cruel neg- 
lect, in the freshness of her great grief dared not attempt to ut- 
ter a syllable, lest her voice should break in uncontrollable sob- 
bings. The Crown Prince returned to Ruppin, leaving the prin- 
cess at Berlin. Charles, the heir-apparent to the ducal crown 
of Brunswick, and brother of the Princess Elizabeth, about a 



152 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

week after the arrival of the princess in Berlin, was married to 
Fritz's sister Charlotte — that same wicked Charlotte who had 
flirted with Wilhelmina's intended, and who had so shamelessly 
slandered the betrothed of her brother. Several fetes followed 
these marriages, with the nsual concomitants of enjoyment and 
* disappointment. Wilhelmina thns describes one of them : 

* The next day there was a great promenade. We were all 
in phaetons, dressed out in our best. All the nobility followed 
in carriages, of which there were eighty-five. The king, in a Ber- 
ime, led the procession. He had beforehand ordered the round 
we were to take, and very soon fell asleep. There came on a 
tremendous storm of wind and rain, in spite of which we contin- 
ued Our procession at a foot's pace. It may easily be imagined 
what state we were in. We were as wet as if we had been in 
the river. Our hair hung about our ears, and our gowns and 
head-dresses were destroyed. We got out at last, after three 
hours' rain, at Monbijou, where there was to be a great illumina- 
tion and ball. I never saw any thing so comical as all these la- 
dies, looking like so many Xantippes, with their dresses sticking 
to their persons. We could not even dry ourselves, and were 
obliged to remain all the evening in our wet clothes." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DEVELOPMENTS OF CHARACTER. 



The Castle at Reinsberg. — Slender Purses of Fritz and Wilhelmina. — Liberality of Fritz. — The 
Ball at Monbijou. — Adventures of Fritz and Wilhelmina. — Letters. — The Interview. — Anec- 
dote of the King. — Wimelmina's Account of her Brother. — Mental and Physical Maladies 
of the King. — Frederick's cruel Neglect of his Wife. — Daily Habits of the young Prince. — 
The shameful Carousal. 

About six miles from Ruppin there was the village of Reins- 
berg, containing about one thousand inhabitants, clustered around 
an ancient dilapidated castle. Frederick was with his regiment 
in Ruppin. The Princess Royal, his wife, resided in Berlin. 
There was an ostensible reason for this separation in the fact 
that there was no suitable mansion for the royal couple at Rup- 
pin. The castle, with its extensive grounds, belonged to a French 
refugee. The king purchased it, and assigned it to his son. As 
the whole estate was in a condition of extreme dilapidation, 
Frederick immediately commenced improvements and repairs. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 153 

The building, the gardens, the forests, and the surrounding lands 
rapidly assumed a new aspect, until Reinsberg became one of 
the most attractive spots in Europe. 

The situation of the castle was admirable. A beautiful sheet 
of water bathed its walls on one side, while a dense forest of 
oaks and beeches rose like an amphitheatre upon the other. 
The whole edifice assumed the form of a square, with two tow- 
ers connected by a double colonnade, richly ornamented with 
vases and statuary. Over the majestic portal was inscribed the 
motto, Frederico, tranquillitatem colenti* The interior of the 
palace, in the magnitude and arrangement of the apartments, 
their decoration and furniture, was still more imposing than the 
exterior. The grand saloon was a superb hall, the walls lined 
with mirrors and costly marbles, and the ceiling painted by the 
most accomplished artists of the day. The garden, with its ave- 
nues, and bowers, and labyrinth of bloom, extended the whole 
length of the lake, upon whose waters two beautiful barges float- 
ed, ever ready, under the impulse of sails or oars, to convey par- 
ties on excursions of pleasure. 

This immense building presented a front of nearly a thousand 
feet ; for, being in a quadrangular form, it fronted four ways. It 
was all faced with hammered stone. In one of the towers this 
bachelor husband constructed his library. It was a magnificent 
apartment, provided with every convenience, and decorated with 
the most tasteful adornments which the arts could furnish. Its 
windows commanded an enchanting prospect of the lake, with 
its tufted islands and the densely wooded heights beyond. 

The apartments prepared for the Princess Royal were also very 
magnificent. Her parlor was twenty feet high. It had six win- 
dows, three opening in the main front toward the town, and the 
other three opening toward the interior court. The spaces be- 
tween the windows were covered with immense mirrors, so ar- 
ranged as to display the ceiling, beautifully painted by one of 
the finest artists of the day. The artist had spread his colors 
with such delicacy and skill, so exquisitely blending light and 
shade, that the illusion was almost perfect. The spectator felt 
that the real sky, with its fleecy clouds and infinite depth of 
blue, overarched him. 

* To Frederick cultivating tranquillity. 



154 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Three years were occupied in enlarging and decorating this 
palace. In the mean time the Princess Elizabeth resided in Ber- 
lin, or in a small country house provided for her at Schonhausen. 
The Crown Prince occasionally visited her, always treating her 
with the marked respect due a lady occupying her high position. 

The king was by no means pleased with the costly luxuries 
with which his son was surrounding himself. But he had, in a 
very considerable degree, lost his control over the Crown Prince. 
Frederick was now twenty-one years of age. He had married 
the niece of the Emperor of Germany. The emperor had proba- 
bly once saved his life, and was disposed particularly to befriend 
him, that he might secure his alliance when he should become 
King of Prussia. Frederick was now the rising sun, and his fa- 
ther the setting luminary. All the courts in Europe were inter- 
ested in winning the regards of the Crown Prince. 

The king, as we have mentioned, allotted to his son a very 
moderate income, barely enough for the necessary expenses of 
his establishment. But the prince borrowed money in large 
sums from the Empress of Germany, from Russia, from England. 
It was well known that, should his life be preserved, he would 
soon have ample means to repay the loan. Frederick William 
probably found it expedient to close his eyes against these trans- 
actions. But he did not attempt to conceal the chagrin with 
which he regarded the literary and voluptuous tastes of his son. 

" When I am dead," he said, petulantly, " you will see Berlin 
full of madmen and freethinkers, and the sort of people who 
walk about the streets." 

Wilhelmina's purse was generally empty, and she was often in 
great want of money. Her penurious father had married her 
below her rank that he might escape settling upon her a dowry. 
Though her husband was heir to the marquisate of Baireuth, his 
father was still liying. That father was a drunkard and a miser. 
It seems that the son received but little more than his wages as 
colonel in the army. Wilhelmina records that one day her 
brother Fritz came to her and said, 

"Seckendorf" (the embassador of the emperor) "sometimes 
sends me money, of which I have great need. I have already 
taken measures that he should procure some for you. My gal- 
leons arrived yesterday, and I will divide their contents with you." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 155 

He then gave her a thousand crowns. Wilhelmina manifest- 
ed a little natural reluctance in receiving the money. But he 
shrugged his shoulders and said, 

"Take them freely. The empress sends me as much money 
as I wish. I assure you that by this means I get rid of the de- 
mon of poverty as soon as I find him approaching me." 

" The empress, then," added Wilhelmina, u is a better exorcist 
.than other priests." 

"Yes," the Crown Prince replied; "and I promise you that 
she will drive away your demon as well as mine." 

Poland, ever in turmoil, was at this time choosing a king. 
The emperor advocated the claims of August of Saxony. France 
urged Stanislaus, a Polish noble, whose daughter had married 
the French dauphin. War ensued between France and Ger- 
many. Frederick William became the ally of the emperor. An 
army of ten thousand men, admirably equipped and organized, 
was upon the march for the Rhine, to act with the emperor 
against France. The Crown Prince was very eager to join the 
expedition, and obtained permission to do so. 

On the evening of the 29th of June, 1734, there was a grand 
ball at the little palace of Monbijou. At three o'clock in the 
morning the Crown Prince changed his ball-dress for a military 
suit, and with his staff set out at full speed for the seat of war. 
They traveled in carriages, by post, night and day, hastening to 
take part in the siege of Philipsburg. A little after midnight 
on the morning of the 2d of July, they reached Hof, having trav- 
eled two hundred miles, and having two hundred miles still far- 
ther to go. At Hof the prince was within thirty-five miles of 
Baireuth, to which place Wilhelmina had some time before re- 
turned. He was very anxious to see her. But his father had 
strictly prohibited his going through Baireuth, under the as- 
sumption that it would occasion loss of time. Frederick made 
arrangements with Wilhelmina, who was in a very delicate state 
of health, to meet him at Berneck, about twelve miles from Bai- 
reuth. But, unfortunately, one of the carriages which conveyed 
the Crown Prince and his companions lost a wheel, which de- 
tained them several hours. The commands of the king were ex- 
plicit that the Crown Prince should not be separated from the 
rest of the company. 



156 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Thus Wilhelniina, upon reaching Berneck, according to ap- 
pointment, did not find her brother there, and could hear noth- 
ing from him. The prince, upon his arrival at Hof, wrote as fol- 
lows to his sister 

" Hof, July 2, 1734, not long after 4 A.M. 

" My dear Sister, — Here I am, within six leagues of a sister 
I love, and I have to decide that it will be impossible to see her 
after all. I have never so lamented the misfortune of not de- 
pending on myself as at this moment. The king being very sour 
sweet on my score, I dare not risk the least thing. A week from 
next Monday, when he arrives himself, I should be queerly treat- 
ed in the camp if I were found to have disobeyed orders. 

"The queen commands me to give you a thousand regards 
from her. She appeared much affected at your illness. But I 
can not warrant you how sincere it was, for she is totally changed, 
and I no longer comprehend her. She has done me all the hurt 
with the king she could. As to Sophie, she is no longer the 
same. She approves all the king says or does, and is charmed 
with her big clown of a bridegroom. 

"The king is more difficult than ever. He is content with 
nothing. He has no gratitude for whatever favors one can do 
him. As to his health, it is one day better, another worse ; but 
the legs they are always swelled. Judge what my joy must be 
to get out of that turpitude ; for the king will only stay a fort- 
night at most in camp. 

" Adieu ! my adorable sister. I am so tired I can not stir, 
having left on Tuesday night, or rather Wednesday morning, at 
three o'clock, from a ball at Monbijou, and arrived here this Fri- 
day morning at four. I recommend myself to your gracious re- 
membrance, and am, for my own part, till death, dearest sister, 
your Frederick." 

In the mean time, Wilhelmina, disappointed in not finding her 
brother, wrote to him the following account of her adventures : 

"I got to Berneck at ten. The heat was excessive; I found 
myself quite worn out with the little journey I had taken. I 
alighted air the house which had been got ready for my brother. 
We waited for him, and in vain waited till three in the after- 
noon. At three we lost patience; had dinner served without 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 157 

him. While we were at table there came on a frightful thun- 
der-storm. I have witnessed nothing so terrible. The thunder 
roared and reverberated among the rocky cliffs which begirdle 
Berneck, and it seemed as if the world were going to perish. A 
deluge of rain succeeded the thunder. 

" It was four o'clock, and I could not understand what had 
become of my brother. I had sent out several persons on horse- 
back to get tidings of him, and none of them came back. At 
length, in spite of all my prayers, the hereditary prince* himself 
would go in search. I was in cruel agitations. These cataracts 
of rain are very dangerous in the mountain countries. The roads 
get suddenly overflowed, and accidents often happen. I thought 
for certain one had happened to my brother, or to the hereditary 
prince. 

" At last, about nine, somebody brought word that my broth- 
er had changed his route and gone to Culmbach, there to stay 
overnight. I was for setting out thither. Culmbach is twenty 
miles from Berneck. But the roads are frightful, and full of 
precipices. Every body rose in opposition. And whether I 
would or not they put me into the carriage for Himmelkron, 
which is only about ten miles off. We had like to have got 
drowned on the road, the waters were so swollen. The horses 
could not cross but by swimming. 

" I arrived at last about one in the morning. I instantly threw 
myself on a bed. I was like to die of weariness, and in mortal 
terror that something had happened to my brother or the hered- 
itary prince. The latter relieved me on his own score. He ar- 
rived at last about four o'clock ; had still no news of my broth- 
er. I was beginning to doze a little, when they came to inform 
me that M. von Knobelsdorf wished to speak to me from the 
Prince Royal. I darted out of bed and ran to him." 

Knobelsdorf was the bearer of a second letter from the Crown 
Prince. The first had not reached her. Frederick, having taken 
an hour or two of sleep at Hof, rose much refreshed, and, contin- 
uing his journey about fifteen miles farther, wrote this second 
letter as follows to his sister : 

"Munchberg, July 2, 173-1. 

My dearest Sister, — I am in despair that I can not satisfy 

* Her husband. 



158 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

my impatience and my duty, to throw myself at your feet this 
day. But, alas ! dear sister, it does not depend upon me. We 
poor princes are obliged to wait here till our generals come up. 
We dare not go along without them. They broke a wheel in 
Gera. Hearing nothing of them since, we are absolutely forced 
to wait here. Judge in what a mood I am, and what sorrow 
must be mine. Express order not to go by Baireuth or Anspach. 
Forbear, dear sister, to torment me on things not depending on 
myself at all. 

" I waver between hope and fear of paying my court to you. 
I ho]3e it might still be at Berneck, if you could contrive a road 
into the Niirnberg highway again, avoiding Baireuth ; other- 
wise I dare not go. The bearer, Captain Knobelsdorf, will ap- 
prise you of every particular. Let him settle something that 
may be possible. This is how I stand at present: instead of 
having to expect some favor from the king, I get nothing but 
chagrin. But what is more cruel upon me than all is that you 
are ill. God, in his grace, be pleased to help you, and restore 
that health which I so much wish for you. Frederick." 

Arrangements were made for them to meet at eight o'clock 
Saturday morning, at the Lake House, situated on a small island 
in a beautiful artificial sheet of water a couple of miles north of 
Baireuth. The prince thus obeyed the letter of the order not 
to go to Baireuth. The following account of the interview which 
ensued is from the pen of Wilhelmina : 

" My brother overwhelmed me with caresses, but found me 
in so pitiable a state that he could not restrain his tears. I was 
not able to stand on my limbs, and felt like to faint every mo- 
ment, so weak was I. He told me that the king was very angry 
at the margraf for not letting his son make the campaign. I 
told him all the margraf s reasons, and added surely they were 
good, in respect of my dear husband. 

" ' Well,' said he, ' let him quit soldiering then, and give back 
his regiment to the king. But quiet yourself as to the fears you 
may have about him if he do; for I know, by certain informa- 
tion, that there will be no blood spilt,' 

" The hereditary prince came in while we were talking, and 
earnestly entreated my brother to get him away from Baireuth. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



159 




FREDERICK AND WILHELMINA. 



They went to a window and talked a long time together. My 
brother told me he would write a letter to the margraf, and give 
him such reasons in favor of the campaign that he doubted not 
it would turn the scale. He promised to obtain the king's ex- 
press leave to stop at Baireuth on his return, after which he went 
away. It was the last time I saw him on the old footing with 
me. He has much changed since then. We returned to Bai- 



160 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

reuth, where I was so ill that for three days they did not think 
I should get over it." 

After this interview the Crown Prince hurried away on his 
route to Philipsburg. He reached Nurnberg that night, where . 
he wrote the following brief but affectionate letter to his sister: 

"Nurnberg, July 3, 1734. 

" My very dear Sister, — It would be impossible to leave 
this place without signifying, dearest sister, my lively gratitude 
for all the marks of favor you showed me in the House on the 
Lake. The highest of all that it was possible to do was that 
of procuring me the satisfaction of paying my court to you. I 
beg millions of pardons for so incommoding you, dearest sister, 
but I could not help it, for you know my sad circumstances well 
enough. I entreat you write me often about your health. Adieu, 
my incomparable and dear sister. I am always the same to you, 
and will remain so till my death. Frederick." 

Early on the morning of the 4th the prince left Nurnberg, and 
reached the camp at Weisenthal on the 7th. Here the imperial 
and Prussian troops were collected, who had been sent to attempt 
to raise the siege of Philipsburg. But the French lines invest- 
ing the city were so strong that Prince Eugene, in command of 
the imperial army, did not venture to make an attack. The 
Crown Prince almost immediately rode out to reconnoitre the 
lines of the foe. As he was returning through a strip of forest 
a cannonade was opened, and the balls went crashing around 
him through the trees. Pride of character probably came to the 
aid of constitutional courage. The prince did not in the slight- 
est degree quicken his pace. Not the least tremor could be per- 
ceived in his hand as he held the reins. He continued convers- 
ing with the surrounding generals in perfect tranquillity, as if 
unconscious of any danger. 

A week after the arrival of the prince the Prussian king en- 
tered the camp. As it was expected that some remarkable feats 
of war would be exhibited in the presence of the king, under the 
leadership of the renowned Prince Eugene, a very large assem- 
blage of princes and other distinguished personages was collect- 
ed on the field. The king remained for a month, dwelling in a 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 161 

tent among his own troops, and sharing all their hardships. He, 
with his son, attended all the councils of war. Still no attempt 
was made to relieve Philipsburg. The third day after the king's 
arrival the city surrendered to the French. The campaign con- 
tinued for some time, with unavailing manoeuvring on both sides 
of the Ehine ; but the Crown Prince saw but little active serv- 
ice. About the middle of August the king left the camp to re- 
turn home. His health was seriously impaired, and alarming 
symptoms indicated that he had not long to live. His journey 
was slow and painful. Gout tortured him. Dropsy threatened 
to strangle him. He did not reach home until the middle of 
September. The alarming state of the king's health added very 
much to the importance of the Crown Prince. It was evident 
that ere long he must come into power. The following charac- 
teristic anecdote is related of the king during this illness : 

One evenings being too unwell to read his usual devotions, he 
called upon his valet de cliambre to read prayers. In the prayer 
occurred the words, " May God bless thee." The servant, not 
deeming it respectful to use thee in reference to the king, took 
the liberty to change the phrase, and read it, " May God bless 
you? The king, exasperated, hurled something at the head of 
the speaker, exclaiming, " It is not so ; read it again." The ter- 
rified servant, not conceiving in what he had done wrong, read 
again, " May God bless you." The irascible monarch, having 
nothing else he could grasp, took off his night-cap and threw it 
into the man's face, exclaiming, " It is not so ; read it over again." 
The servant, frightened almost out of his senses, read for the 
third time, " May God bless you." " Thee, rogue," shouted the 
king. " ' May God bless thee? Dost thou not know, rascal, that, 
in the eyes of God, I am only a miserable rascal like thyself?" 

Early in October, the Crown Prince, not socially or morally 
improved by his campaigning, set out on his return to Berlin. 
He was by no means insensible to the fact that the crown of 
Prussia would soon rest upon his brow. On the 5th he called 
again upon his sister at Baireuth. She was sick and very sad. 
The following is Wilhelmina's account of the interview : 

" My brother arrived on the 5th of October. He seemed to 
me in ill humor. To break off conversation with me, he said that 
he had to write to the king and queen. I ordered him pen and 

L 



162 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE KING AND HIS SERVANT. 



paper. He wrote in my room, and spent more than a good hour 
in writing a couple of letters of a line or two each. He then 
had all the court, one after another, introduced to him ; said 
nothing to any of them ; looted merely with a mocking air at 
them ; after which we went to dinner. 

" Here his whole conversation consisted in quizzing whatever 
he saw, and repeating to me, above a hundred times over, the 
words ' little prince,' ' little court.' I was shocked, and could not 
understand how he had changed so suddenly toward me. The 
etiquette of all courts in the empire is, that nobody who has not 
at least the rank of captain can sit at a prince's table. My 
brother put a lieutenant there who was in his suite, saying, ' A 
king's lieutenant is as good as a margraf 's minister.' I swallow- 
ed this incivility, and showed no sign. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 163 

" After dinner, being alone with me, he said, ' Our sire is ap- 
proaching his end. He will not live out this month. I know 
that I have made you great promises, but I am not in the condi- 
tion to keep them. I will leave you the half of the sum which 
my predecessor lent you. I think that you will have every rea- 
son to be satisfied with that.' 

" I answered that my regard for him had never been of an in- 
terested nature ; that I would never ask any thing of him but 
the continuance of his friendship ; and that I did not wish for 
one penny if it would in the least inconvenience him. 

" l No, no,' said he ; ' you shall have those one hundred thou- 
sand thalers. I have destined them for you. People will be 
much surprised to see me act quite differently from what they 
had expected. They imagine I am going to lavish all my treas- 
ures, and that money will become as common as pebbles in 
Berlin. But they will find that I know better. I mean to in- 
crease my army, and to leave all other things on the old footing. 
I will have every consideration for the queen, my mother, and 
will satiate her with honors. But I do not mean that she shall 
meddle with my affairs. If she try it she will find so.' 

" I fell from the clouds on hearing all that, and knew not if I 
were sleeping or waking. He then questioned me on the affairs 
of this country. I gave him the detail of them. He said to me, 
'When your goose of a father-in-law dies, I advise you to break 
up the whole court, and reduce yourselves to the footing of a 
private gentleman's establishment in order to pay your debts. 
In real truth, you have no need of so many people. And you 
must try to reduce the wages of those whom you can not help 
keeping. You have been accustomed to live, at Berlin, with a 
table of four dishes. That is all you want here. I will invite 
you now and then to Berlin, which will spare table and house 
expenses.' 

" For a long time my heart had been swelling. I could not 
restrain my tears at hearing all these indignities. ' Why do you 
cry?' said he. 'Ah ! ah ! I see that you are in low spirits. We 
must dissipate that dark humor. The music waits us. I will 
drive that fit out of you by an air or two on the flute.' He 
gave me his hand and led me into the other room. I sat down 
to the harpsichord, which I inundated with my tears." 



164 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

On the fourth day after the arrival of the Crown Prince at 
Baireuth, a courier came with a letter from the queen conjuring 
him to return immediately, as the king was growing worse and 
worse. Frederick immediately hastened to Potsdam, and on 
the 12th of October entered the sick-chamber of his father in the 
palace there. He seems to have thought nothing of his wife, 
who was at Berlin. We have no evidence that he wrote to her 
during his absence, or that he visited her upon his return. For 
four months the king remained a great sufferer in Potsdam, trem- 
bling between life and death. It was often with great difficulty 
that he could breathe. He was impatient and irritable in the 
extreme. As he was rolled about in his Bath chair, he would 
petulantly cry out, " Air ! air !" as if his attendants were to blame 
for his shortness of breath. The distress from the dropsy was 
very great. " If you roll the king a little fast," writes an attend- 
ant, " you hear the water jumble in his body." The Crown 
Prince was deeply affected in view of the deplorable condition 
of his father, and wept convulsively. The stern old king was 
stern to the end. He said one day to Frederick, "If you begin 
at the wrong end with things, and all go topsy-turvy after I am 
gone, I will laugh at you out of my grave." 

Quite unexpectedly, the latter part of January the virulence 
of the king's complicated diseases of gout, dropsy, and ulcers 
seemed to abate. Though but forty-seven years of age, he was, 
from his intemperate habits, an infirm old man. Though he lin- 
gered along for many months, he was a great sufferer. His un- 
amiability filled the palace with discomfort. 

Frederick returned to Buppin. Though he treated his wife 
with ordinary courtesy, as an honored member of the court, his 
attentions were simply such as were due to every lady of the 
royal household. It does not appear that she accompanied him 
to Kuppin or to Reinsberg at that time, though the apartments 
to which we have already alluded were subsequently provided 
for her at Reinsberg, where she was ever treated with the most 
punctilious politeness. Lord Dover says that after the.accession 
of the prince to the throne he went to see his wife but once a 
year, on her birthday. She resided most of the time at Berlin, 
surrounded by a quiet little court there. However keen may 
have been her sufferings in view of this cruel neglect, we have 



FREDEKICK THE GREAT. 



165 



no record that any word of complaint was ever heard to escape 
her lips. "This poor Crown Princess, afterward queen," says 
Carlyle, " has been heard, in her old age, reverting in a touching, 
transient way to the glad days she had at Reinsberg. Com- 
plaint openly was never heard of her in any kind of days ; but 
these, doubtless, were the best of her life." 

Frederick had become very ambitious of high intellectual cul- 
ture and of literary renown. He gathered around him a numer- 
ous class of scholarly men, and opened an extensive correspond- 
ence with the most distinguished philosophers, poets, and histo- 
rians all over Europe. He commenced and persevered in a course 
of very rigorous study, rising at an early hour, and devoting the 
unbroken morning to intellectual pursuits. The renowned men 
of earth have not attained their renown but by untiring exer- 




FRITZ IX HIS LIBRARY. 



166 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

tions. For six or seven consecutive hours every day the prince 
was busy in his library, when no one was allowed to interrupt 
him. He wrote to a friend about this time : 

" Having been not quite well lately, my physician has advised 
me to take more exercise than I have hitherto done. This has 
obliged me to mount my horse and take a gallop every morning. 
But, in order not to be obliged on that account to change my 
ordinary way of life, I get up earlier, in order to regain on the 
one hand what I lose on the other." 

He rose about five o'clock. After a horseback ride of an hour 
he devoted the mornings to his books. The remainder of the 
day was given to society, music, and recreation. The following 
extract from his correspondence throws additional light upon 
the employment of his time. The letter was addressed to an 
intimate friend, Baron Von Suhm, of Saxony : 

" I think you will not be sorry if I say a few words to you re- 
specting our rural amusements, for with persons who are dear 
to us we love to enter even into the smallest details. We have 
divided our occupations into two classes, of which the first con- 
sists of what is useful, and the second of what is agreeable. I 
reckon in the list of the usefuls the study of philosophy, history, 
and languages. The agreeables are music, the tragedies and com- 
edies which we represent, the masquerades and presents which 
we give. The serious occupations, however, have always the 
prerogative of going before the others. And I think I can say 
that we make a reasonable use of our pleasures, only indulging 
in them to relieve the mind, and to prevent moroseness and too 
much philosophic gravity, which is apt not to yield a smile even 
to the graces." 

Again he wrote a few months after, while absent from home : 
" I set off on the 25th to return to my dear garden at Kuppin. 
I burn with impatience to see again my vineyards, my cherries, 
and my melons. There, tranquil and free from all useless cares, 
I shall live really for myself. I become every day more avari- 
cious of my time, of which I render an account to myself, and 
never lose any of it without much regret. My mind is now 
wholly turned toward philosophy. That study renders me won- 
derful services, which are repaid by me with affection. I find 
myself happy because I am more tranquil than formerly. My 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 167 

soul is much less agitated with violent and tumultuous emo- 
tions. I suppress the first impulses of my passions, and do not 
proceed to act upon them till after having well considered the 
question before me." 

Immediately after his return he wrote again: "I am now a 
peaceable inhabitant of Reinsberg, applying myself to study and 
reading almost from morning till night. With regard to the news 
of this world, you w 7 ill learn them better through the gazetteers 
than through me. They contain the history of the madness and 
folly of the great, the wars of some, the quarrels of others, and 
the childish amusements of all. These news are as little worthy 
the attention of a man of sense as the quarrels of rats and mice 
would be."* 

The king was not at all pleased either with his son's studies 
or his recreations. Philosophy and literature were as obnoxious 
to the sturdy old monarch as were music and all amusements 
save the rough pastime of hunting stags and boars. He was a 
thorough materialist, having no other thought than to drill his 
troops and develop the resources of his realm. Beer and tobac- 
co, both of which he used inordinately, were almost his only lux- 
uries. He often growled loudly at what he deemed the cox- 
combry of his son and companions at Reinsberg, and frequently 
threatened to disperse his associates. 

But Frederick was now a full-grown man. His heirship to 
the throne rendered him a power among the courts of Europe. 
It was doubtful whether he would again submit to a caning. 
The infirm old king, gouty, dropsical, weakened, and lamed by 
ulcers, could not conceal from himself that his power, with his 
energies, was rapidly waning. Indeed, at times, he even talked 
of abdicating in favor of his son. Whenever there was a tran- 
sient abatement in his maladies, he roused himself to the utmost, 
took short journeys, and tried to deceive himself into the belief 
that he was well again. 

The principal companions of Frederick at Reinsberg were gay, 
pleasure-loving men. Among them were Major Keyserling, a 
thoughtless young man, full of vivacity, and of very agreeable 
manners ; and M. Jordan, a French young gentleman, formerly a 

* The above extracts are taken from CorrespondanceFamiliere et Amicale de Frederic II., 
Roi de Prusse, avec U. F. de Suhm. 



168 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

preacher, very amiable, and an author of considerable note. M. 
Jordan was devotedly attached to the prince, and continued so 
through life. He gives the following testimony to the good qual- 
ities of Frederick : 

" It is not the king that I love in him ; it is the man. If I 
considered the dignity and the power of the king, I should only 
seek to keep myself at a distance from him. But the qualities 
which are personal to him, both of the heart and of the head, 
they attach me to him for life, without reserve and without 
fear."* 

Lieutenant Chasot, another of his friends, was a French offi- 
cer who had killed a brother officer in a duel at Philipsburg, 
and, in consequence, had fled to the Prussian lines. He had 
brightness of intellect and winning manners, which rendered 
him a universal favorite. Captain Knobelsdorf was a distin- 
guished musician and architect. He rendered signal service in 
enlarging and decorating the chateau at Reinsberg. Baron De 
Suhm, with whom Frederick kept up a constant correspondence, 
was then in Saxony, translating for the Crown Prince the philos- 
ophy of Wolff. He sent the prince chapter by chapter, with co- 
pious notes. 

In this assembly of gay young men religion was generally a 
topic of ridicule. Even Jordan, the ex-preacher, was either will- 
ingly or unwillingly borne along by the current. Subsequent- 
ly, when youth and health had fled, and he was on a sick-bed 
suffering from lingering disease, he felt the need of those conso- 
lations which Christianity alone can give. He wrote, under date 
of April, 1745, to Frederick, who was then king, and whose 
friendship continued unabated : 

" My complaint increases so much that I no longer even hope 
to recover from it. I feel strongly, in the situation in which I 
at present find myself, the necessity of an enlightened religion 
arising from conviction. Without that, we are the beings on 
earth most to be pitied. Your majesty will, after my death, do 
me the justice to testify that if I have combated superstition 
with vehemence, I have always supported the interests of the 
Christian religion, though differing from the ideas of some theo- 
logians. As it is only possible when in danger to discover the 

* Thibault, Souvenirs de Vingt Ans de Sejours a Berlin. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 169 

necessity of bravery, so no one can really have the consoling ad- 
vantage of religion except through sufferings." 

It speaks well for Frederick that during this illness, which 
was long and painful, he almost daily visited at the bedside of 
his friend, ministering to his wants with his own hand. After 
his death the king continued his kindness to the bereaved fam- 
ily. Baron Bielfeld gives the following account of one of the 
scenes of carousal in which these men engaged, when in the en- 
joyment of youth and health : 

" About a fortnight ago the prince was in a humor of extraor- 
dinary gayety at the table. His gayety animated all the rest ; 
and some glasses of Champagne still more enlivened our mirth. 
The prince, perceiving our disposition, was willing to promote it, 
and on rising from table, told us that he was determined that we 
should recommence our jollity at supjDer. 

" We were scarcely seated at supper before he began by drink- 
ing a number of interesting healths, which there was a necessity 
of pledging. This first skirmish being over, it was followed by 
an incessant flow of sallies and repartees. The most contracted 
countenances became expanded. The gayety was general, even 
the ladies assisting in promoting our jollity. 

"After about two hours I stepped out for a moment into the 
vestibule. I had placed before me a large glass of water, which 
the princess, opposite to whom I had the honor to sit, in a vein 
of mischievous pleasantry, had ordered to be emptied, and had 
filled it with Sellery wine, which was as clear as rock water. 
Having already lost my taste, I mixed my wine with wine. 
Thinking to refresh myself, I became joyous, but it was a kind 
of joy that leaned toward intoxication. 

" To finish my picture — the prince ordered me to come and sit 
by him. He- said many gracious things to me, and let me see 
into futurity as far as my feeble sight was then capable of dis- 
covering. At the same time, he made me drink bumper after 
bumper of his Lunelle wine. The rest of the company, however, 
were not less sensible than I of the effects of the nectar which 
there flowed in such mighty streams. 

"At last, whether by accident or design, the princess broke a 
glass. This was the signal for our impetuous jollity, and an ex- 
ample that appeared highly worthy of our imitation. In an in- 



170 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE BANQUET. 



stant all the glasses flew to the several corners of the room. All 
the crystals, porcelain, mirrors, branches, bowls, and vases were 
broken into a thousand pieces. In the midst of this universal 
destruction, the prince stood, like the man in Horace who con- 
templates the crush of worlds, with a look of perfect tranquillity. 
" To this tumult succeeded a fresh burst of mirth, during which 
the prince slipped away, and, aided by his pages, retired to his 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 171 

apartment ; and the princess immediately followed. The clay 
after this adventure the court was at its last gasp. Neither the 
prince nor any of the courtiers could stir from their beds." 

Baron Bielfeld himself was so intoxicated that, in attempting 
to retire, he fell down the grand staircase from top to bottom. 
He was severely bruised, and was taken up senseless. " After 
lying about a fortnight in bed," he writes, " where the prince had 
the goodness to come every day to see me, and to contribute 
every thing possible to my cure, I got abroad again." 

Frederick William, through spies, kept himself informed of 
every thing which was said or done at Reinsberg. Such orgies 
as the above excited his contempt and abhorrence. But, notwith- 
standing the above narrative, there is abundant testimony that 
the prince was not ordinarily addicted to such shameful excesses. 
The Italian Count Algarotti, distinguished alike for his familiar- 
ity with the sciences and his cultivated taste for the fine arts, 
was an honored guest at Reinsberg. In a letter addressed to 
Lord Hervey, under elate of September 30th, 1739, the count 
writes : 

"What shall I say to you, my lord, of the Prince Royal, the 
lover and the favorite of the Muses ? Several days, which we 
passed with him in his castle of Reinsberg, seemed to be but a 
few hours. He is the most intelligent and the most amiable of 
men. Though I could notice only his private virtues, I can bold- 
ly assure you, my lord, that the world will one day admire his 
royal qualifications, and that when he shall be upon the throne 
he will show himself to be the greatest of sovereigns. There is 
all the reason in the world to believe that he will seek out for 
great men with as much eagerness as his father does for giants." 

Baron Bielfeld gives the following account of the ordinary 
employments, and the tone of conversation of the prince : " All 
the employments and all the pleasures of the prince are those 
of a man of understandiDg. He is, at this time, actually engaged 
in refuting the dangerous political reveries of Machiavel. His 
conversation at table is charming. He talks much and excel- 
lently welL His mind seems to be equal to all sorts of subjects, 
and his imagination produces on each of them a number of new 
and iust ideas. His genius resembles the fire of the vestals that 
was never extinct. A decent and polite contradiction is not dis- 



172 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

agreeable to him. He possesses the rare talent of displaying 
the wit of others, and of giving them opportunity to shine on 
those subjects in which they excel. He jests frequently, and 
sometimes rallies, but never with asperity ; and an ingenious re- 
tort does not displease him. 

" Nothing can be more elegant than this prince's library. It 
has a view of the lake and gardens. A collection, not very nu- 
merous, but well chosen, of the best books in the French language 
are ranged in glass cases, which are ornamented with carvings 
and gildings in excellent taste. The portrait of M. De Voltaire 
occupies an honorable place in this library. He is the favorite 
author of the prince, who has, in general, a high esteem for good 
French writers both in prose and verse. 

" The evenings are devoted to music. The prince has a con- 
cert in his saloon, where no one enters who is not invited, and 
such invitation is regarded as an extraordinary favor. The prince 
has commonly performed a sonata and a concert for the flute, on 
which he plays in the greatest perfection. He fills the flute ad- 
mirably well, has great agility with the fingers, and a vast fund 
of music. He composes himself sonatas. I have had the honor 
of standing behind him more than once while he was playing, 
and was charmed with his taste, especially in the adagio. He 
has a continual creation of new ideas." 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE DEATH OF FREDERICK WILLIAM. 

Voltaire and Madame Du Chatelet. — Letter from Frederick to Voltaire. — The Reply. — Visit 
to the Prince of Orange. — Correspondence. — The Crown Prince becomes a Mason. — Inter- 
esting Letter from the Crown Prince. — Petulance and declining Health of the King. — Scenes 
in the Death-chamber. — Characteristic Anecdotes. — The Dying Scene. 

The Crown Prince had for some time been insjDired with an 
ever-increasing ambition for high intellectual culture. Gradual- 
ly he was gathering around him, in his retreat at Reinsberg, men 
of high literary reputation, and was opening correspondence with 
the most distinguished men of letters in all the adjacent coun- 
tries. 

Voltaire was, at this time, about forty years of age. His re- 
nown as a man of genius already filled Europe. He was resid- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 173 

ing, on terms of the closest intimacy, with Madame Du Chatelet, 
who had separated from her husband. With congenial tastes 
and ample wealth they occupied the chateau of Cirey, delight- 
fully situated in a quiet valley in Champagne, and which they 
had rendered, as Madame testifies, a perfect Eden on earth. It 
is not always, in the divine government, that sentence against 
an evil work is " executed speedily." Madame Du Chatelet, re- 
nowned in the writings of Voltaire as the "divine Emilie," was 
graceful, beautiful, fascinating. Her conversational powers were 
remarkable, and she had written several treatises upon subjects 
connected with the pure sciences, which had given her much de- 
served celebrity. 

Still it is evident that the serpent was in this Eden. Carlyle 
writes : " An ardent, aerial, gracefully predominant, and, in the 
end, somewhat termagant female, this divine Emilie. Her tem- 
per, radiant rather than bland, was none of the patientest on oc- 
casion. Nor was M. De Voltaire the least of a Job if you came 
athwart him in a wrong way. I have heard that their domestic 
symphony was liable to furious flaws ; that plates, in presence 
of the lackeys, actual crockery or metal, have been known to fly 
from end to end of the dinner-table ; nay, they mention i knives/ 
though only in the way of oratorical action ; and Voltaire has 
been heard to exclaim, ' Don't fix those haggard, sidelong eyes 
on me in that way !' — mere shrillness of pale rage presiding over 
the scene." 

Voltaire had already written the epic poem the Henriade, the 
history of Charles XIZ, and several tragedies. 

The first letter from Frederick to Voltaire was dated August 
8th, 1736. The following extracts will show the spirit of this 
flattering epistle : 

" Monsieur, — Although I have not the satisfaction of know- 
ing you personally, you are not the less known to me through 
your works. They are treasures of the mind, if I may so express 
myself; and they reveal to the reader new beauties at every pe- 
rusal. I think I have recognized in them the character of their 
ingenious author, who does honor to our age and to human na- 
ture. If ever the dispute on the comparative merits of the mod- 
erns and the ancients should be revived, the modern great men 



174 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

will owe it to you, and to you only, that the scale is turned in 
their favor. With the excellent quality of poet you join innu- 
merable others more or less related to it. 

" Monsieur, there is nothing I wish so much as to possess all 
your writings. Pray do communicate them to me without re- 
serve. If there be among your manuscripts any that you wish 
to conceal from the eyes of the public, I engage to keep them in 
profoundest secrecy. 

" I should think myself richer in the possession of your works 
than in that of all the transient goods of fortune. 

"You inspire the ambition to follow in your footsteps. But 
I, how often have I said to myself, unhappy man ! throw down 
a burden which is above thy strength ! One can not imitate 
Voltaire without being Voltaire. 

" It is in such moments that I have felt how small are those 
advantages of birth, those vapors of grandeur, with which vanity 
would solace us. They amount to little, properly to nothing. 
Ah ! would glory but make use of me to crown your successes ! 

" If my destiny refuse me the happiness of being able to pos- 
sess you, may I at least hope one day to see the man whom I 
have admired so long now from afar, and to assure you, by word 
of mouth, that I am, with all the esteem and consideration due 
those who, following the torch of truth for guide, consecrate their 
labors to the public, Monsieur, your affectionate friend, 

" Frederick, Prince Royal of Prussia." - 

Voltaire promptly replied to this letter in corresponding terms 
of flattery. His letter was dated Cirey, August 26th, 1736 : 

" Monseigneur, — A man must be void of all feeling who were 
not infinitely moved by the letter which your royal highness has 
deigned to honor me with. My self-love is only too much flat- 
tered by it. But my love of mankind, which I have always 
nourished in my heart, and which, I venture to say, forms the 
basis of my character, has given me a very much purer pleasure 
to see that there is now in the world a prince who thinks as a 
man — a Pliilosoplier prince, who will make men happy. 

" Permit me to say there is not a man on the earth but owes 
thanks for the care you take to cultivate, by sound philosophy, 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 175 

a soul that is born for command. Good kings there never were 
except those who had begun by seeking to instruct themselves ; 
by knowing good men from bad ; by loving what was true ; by 
detesting persecution and superstition. No prince, persisting in 
such thoughts, but might bring back the golden age into his 
countries. 

" Unless one day the tumult of business and the wickedness 
of men alter so divine a character, you will be worshiped by 
your people and loved by the whole world. Philosophers, wor- 
thy of the name, will flock to your states. The illustrious Queen 
Christina quitted her kingdom to go in search of the arts. Reign 
•you, Monseigneur, and the arts will come to seek you. 

" I will obey your commands as to sending those unpublished 
pieces. Your criticism will be my reward. It is a price few 
sovereigns can pay. I am sure of your secrecy. Your virtue 
and your intellect must be in proportion. I should indeed con- 
sider it a precious happiness to come and pay my court to your 
royal highness. One travels to Rome to see paintings and ruins. 
A prince such as you is a much more singular object, worthier 
of a long journey. 

" In whatever corner of the world I may end my life, be as- 
sured, Monseigneur, my wishes will be continually for you. My 
heart will rank itself among your subjects. Your glory will be 
ever dear to me. I shall wish, May you always be like yourself, 
and may other kings be like you. I am, with profound respect, 
your royal highness' s most humble Voltaire." 

The correspondence thus commenced was prosecuted with 
great vigor. It seemed difficult to find language sufficiently ex- 
pressive of their mutual admiration. Frederick received many 
of Voltaire's unpublished manuscripts, and sent him many tokens 
of regard. Some of Frederick's manuscripts Voltaire also exam- 
ined, and returned with slight corrections and profuse expres- 
sions of delight. 

In the summer of 1738 the infirm old king undertook a jour- 
ney to Holland, on a visit of diplomacy to the Prince of Orange. 
The Crown Prince accompanied him. It does not, however, ap- 
pear that they had much intercourse with each other on the 
journey. They spent several days at the beautiful palace of 



176 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Loo, in Geldern, occupied by the Prince of Orange and his En- 
glish bride, a niece to his Prussian majesty. The palace was 
imposing in its architectural structure, containing many gorgeous 
saloons, and surrounded with beautiful gardens. In a letter 
which Frederick wrote from Loo to Voltaire, dated August 6th, 
we find the following sentiments : 

" I write from a place where there lived once a great man* 
which is now the Prince of Orange's house. The demon of am- 
bition sheds its unhappy poisons over his days. He might be 
the most fortunate of men, and he is devoured by chagrins in his 
beautiful palace here, in the middle of his gardens and of a bril- 
liant court." 

In one of the letters of the Crown Prince, speaking of the mode 
of traveling with his father, he says : " We have now been trav- 
eling near three weeks. The heat is as great as if we were rid- 
ing astride upon a ray of the sun. The dust is like a dense 
cloud, which renders us invisible to the eyes of the by-standers. 
In addition to this, we travel like the angels, without sleep, and 
almost without food. Judge, then, what my condition must be." 

While on this journey to Holland the Crown Prince was one 
day dining with a prince of Lippe-Biickeburg. Freemasonry 
became one of the topics of conversation at the table. King 
Frederick William denounced the institution in his usual style 
of coarse vituperation, as tomfoolery, atheism, and every thing 
else that was bad. But the Prince of Biickeburg, himself a ma- 
s^bn and a very gentlemanly man, defended the craft with such 
persuasive eloquence as quite captivated the Crown Prince. Aft- 
er dinner the prince took him secretly aside, conversed with him 
more fully upon the subject, expressed his admiration of the sys- 
tem, and his wish to be admitted into the fraternity: But it 
was necessary carefully to conceal the step from the irate king. 
Arrangements were immediately made to assemble at Brunswick 
a sufficient number of masons from Hamburg, where the Crown 
Prince, on his return, could be received in a secret meeting into 
the mystic brotherhood. 

The Crown Prince met the masons by agreement at " Korn's 
Hotel." On the night of Tuesday, August 14th, 1738, the king 
having that evening continued his journey, Frederick, after adopt- 

* William III. of England. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 177 

ing extreme precautions to prevent any publicity of the act, fear- 
ing probably only lest it should reach his father's ears, passed 
through the mysterious rites of initiation. It does not, however, 
appear that subsequently he took any special interest in the so- 
ciety.* 

The year 1739 was spent by the prince mostly at Reinsberg. 
Many distinguished visitors were received at the chateau. Fred- 
erick continued busily engaged in his studies, writing both prose 
and verse, and keeping up a lively correspondence with Voltaire 
and other literary friends. He engaged very earnestly in writ- 
ing a book entitled Anti-Machiavel, which consisted of a refuta- 
tion of Machiavel's Prince. This book was published, praised, 
and read, but has long since been forgotten. The only memora- 
ble thing about the book now is that in those dark days of ab- 
solutism, when it was the almost universally recognized opinion 
that power did not ascend from the people to their sovereign, 
but descended from the monarch to his subjects, Frederick should 
have spoken of the king as the " born servant of his people." 

In July of this year the Crown Prince took another journey 
with his father through extensive portions of the Prussian terri- 
tory. The following extract from one of his letters to Voltaire 
reflects pleasing light upon the heart of Frederick, and upon the 
administrative ability of his father: 

" Prussian Lithuania is a hundred and twenty miles long, by 
from forty to sixty broad. It was ravaged by pestilence at the 
beginning of this century, and they say three hundred thousand 
people died of disease and famine. The disorder carried off the 
people, and the lands remained uncultivated and full of weeds. 
The most flourishing of our provinces was changed into the most 
miserable of solitudes. 

* Baron Bielfeld, in his letters, gives the following account of the prince's admission to the 
masonic fraternity: "On the 14th the whole day was spent in preparations for the lodge. A 

little after midnight we saw the Prince Royal arrive, accompanied by Count W . The 

prince presented this gentleman as a candidate whom he recommended, and whose reception he 
wished immediately to succeed his own. He desired us likewise to omit, in his reception, not 
any one rigorous ceremony that was used in similar cases ; to grant him no indulgence what- 
ever ; but gave us leave, on this occasion, to treat him merely as a private person. In a word, 
he was received with all the usual and requisite formalities. I admired his intrepidity, the se- 
renity of his countenance, and his graceful deportment even in the most critical moments.* Aft- 
er the two receptions we opened the lodge, and proceeded to our work. He appeared delighted, 
and acquitted himself with as much dexterity as discernment." — Letters of Baron Bielfeld, vol. 
iii.,p. 36. 

M 



178 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" Meanwhile Frederick the First died, and with him was buried 
all his false grandeur, which consisted only in a vain magnifi- 
cence, and in the pompous display of frivolous ceremonies. My 
father, who succeeded him, compassionated the general misery. 
He visited the spot, and saw, with his own eyes, this vast coun- 
try laid waste, and all the dreadful traces which a contagious 
malady, a famine, and the sordid avarice of a venal administra- 
tion leave behind them. Twelve or fifteen towns depopulated, 
and four or five hundred villages uninhabited, presented them- 
selves to his view. Far from being discouraged by such a sad 
spectacle, his compassion only became the more lively from it ; 
and he resolved to restore population, plenty, and commerce to 
this land, which had even lost the appearance of an inhabited 
country. 

" Since this time he has spared no expense for the furtherance 
of his salutary intentions. He first established wise regulations 
and laws. He rebuilt whatever had been allowed to go to ruin 
in consequence of the plague. He brought and established there 
thousands of families from the different countries of Europe. 
The lands became again productive, and the country populous. 
Commerce reflourished; and at the present time abundance 
reigns in this country more than ever before. There are now 
half a million of inhabitants in Lithuania. There are more towns 
than formerly; more flocks, and more riches and fertility than 
in any other part of Germany. 

"And all that I have b v een relating to you is due to the king 
alone, who not only gave the orders, but himself saw that they 
were faithfully obeyed. He both conceived the designs and ex- 
ecuted them. He spared neither care, nor trouble, nor vast treas- 
ures, nor promises, nor recompenses, in order to assure* the exist- 
ence and the comfort of half a million of rational beings, who 
owe to him alone their happiness. There is something in my 
mind so heroic in the generous and laborious manner in which 
the king has devoted himself to the restoring to this deserted 
country its population, fertility, and happiness, that I think you 
will see his conduct in the same light as I do when you are made 
acquainted with the circumstances." 

It would be unjust alike to the father and the son to withhold 
a letter which reflects so much credit upon them both — upon 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 179 

the father for his humane measures, and upon the son for his ap- 
preciation of their moral beauty. 

The king was so pleased with the conduct of his son during 
this journey that, in a moment of unusual good-nature, he made 
him a present of a very extensive horse-breeding establishment 
near Tilsit, consisting of seven farms, all in the most perfect or- 
der, as every thing was sure to be which was under the control 
of Frederick William. The profits of this establishment added 
about ten thousand dollars to the annual income of the Crown 
Prince. He was quite overjoyed at the unexpected gift, and 
wrote to his sister Wilhelmina a letter glowing with satisfaction. 

During the first part of his journey the king had been remark- 
ably cheerful and genial, but toward its close he was attacked 
by a new fit of very serious illness. To the discomfort of all, 
his chronic moodiness returned. A few extracts from Pollnitz's 
account of this journey throws interesting light upon those 
scenes : 

"Till now his majesty has been in especial good-humor. But 
in Dantzig his cheerfulness forsook him, and it never came back. 
He arrived about ten o'clock at night in that city, slept there, 
and was off again next morning at five. He drove only fifty 
miles this day ; stopped in Luppow. From Luppow he went 
to a poor village near Belgard, and staid there overnight. 

"At Belgard next morning he reviewed the dragoon regiment, 
and was very ill content with it. And nobody, with the least 
understanding of that business, but must own that never did 
Prussian regiment manoeuvre worse. Conscious themselves how 
bad it was, they lost head and got into confusion. The king did 
every thing that was possible to help them into order again, 
but it was all in vain. The king, contrary to wont, restrained 
himself amazingly, and would not show his displeasure in pub- 
lic. He got into his carriage and drove away, not staying to 
dine with General Von Platen, as was always his custom with 
commandants whom he had reviewed. 

"As the prince was anxious to come up with his majesty again, 
and knew not where he would meet him, we had to be very 
swift in the business. We found the king, with Anhalt and 
Winterfeld, by-and-by, sitting in a village in front of a barn, eat- 
ing a cold pie there which the Marquis of Anhalt chanced to 



180 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

have with him. His majesty, owing to what he had seen on the 
parade-ground, was in the utmost ill-humor. Next day, Satur- 
day, he went a hundred and fifty or two hundred miles, and ar- 
rived in Berlin at ten o'clock at night, not expected there till the 
morrow, so that his rooms were locked, her majesty being over 
in Monbijou giving her children a ball." 

Late in the fall of 1739 the health of Frederick William was 
so rapidly failing that it became manifest to all that his days on 
earth would soon be ended. He sat joylessly in his palace, list- 
ening to the moaning of the wind, the rustle of the falling leaves, 
and the pattering of the rain. His gloomy spirit was in accord 
with the melancholy days. More dreary storms darkened his 
turbid soul than those which wrecked the autumnal sky. 

Early in November he came to Berlin, languid, crippled, and 
wretched. The death-chamber in the palace is attended with 
all the humiliations and sufferings which are encountered in the 
poor man's hut. The king, through all his life, had indulged his 
irritable disposition, and now, imprisoned by infirmities and tor- 
tured with pain, his petulance and abuse became almost unen- 
durable. Miserable himself, he made every one wretched around 
him. He was ever restless — now in his bed, now out of it, now 
in his wheel chair, continually finding fault, and often dealing 
cruel blows to those who came within his reach. He was un- 
willing to be left for a moment alone. The old generals were 
gathered in his room, and sat around his bed talking and smok- 
ing. He could not sleep at night, and allowed his attendants 
no repose. Restlessly he tried to divert his mind by whittling, 
painting, and small carpentry. The Crown Prince dared not 
visit him too often, lest his solicitude should be interpreted into 
impatience for the king to die, that he might grasp the crown. 
In the grossest terms the king insulted his physicians, attributing 
all his sufferings to their wickedness or their ignorance. Fortu- 
nately the miserable old man was too weak to attempt to cane 
them. A celebrated physician, by the name of Hoffman, was 
sent for to prescribe for the king. He was a man of much in- 
tellectual distinction, and occupied an important position in the 
university. As his prescriptions failed to give relief to his maj- 
esty, he was assailed, like the rest, in the vilest language of vi- 
tuperation. With great dignity Professor Hoffman replied : 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 181 

" Sire, I can not bear these reproaches, which I do not deserve. 
I have tried, for the relief of your majesty, all the remedies which 
art can supply, or which nature can admit. If my ability or my 
integrity is doubted, I am willing to leave not only the univer- 
sity, but the kingdom. But I can not be driven into any place 
where the name of Hoffman will not be respected." 

The king was so impressed by this firm attitude of his physi- 
cian that he even made an apology for his rudeness. As Fred- 
erick William was now convinced that ere long he must appear 
before the tribunal of God, he gradually became a little more 
calm and resigned* It is, however, evident that the Crown 
Prince still had his share of earthly annoyances, and certainly 
his full share of earthly frailties. In a letter to his friend Suhm, 
written this summer, he says : 

" Tantalus never suffered so much while standing in the river, 
the waters of which he could not drink, as I when, having re- 
ceived your package of the translation of Wolff, I was unable to 
read it. All the accidents and all the bores in the world were, 
I think, agreed to prevent me. A journey to Potsdam, daily re- 
views, and the arrival of my brother in company with Messrs. 
De Hacke and De Rittberg, have been my impediments. Imag- 
ine my horror, my dear Diaphanes,f at seeing the arrival of this 
caravan without my having in the least expected them. They 
weigh upon my shoulders like a tremendous burden, and never 
quit my side, in order, I believe, to make me wish myself at the 
devil." 

As the king's infirmities and sufferings increased, the sympa- 
thies of his son were more and more excited. He seemed to for- 
get all his father's cruel treatment, and to remember only his 
kingly energies. The thought of his death became very painful 
to him, and at times he recoiled from the oppressive cares he 
must of necessity assume with the crown. 

One evening in April, the king, feeling a little better, decided 

* Baron Bielfeld gives the following account of the personal appearance of the king at this 
time : "If we judge by his portraits, he was in his youth very handsome. But it must be con- 
fessed that he does not now retain any traces of beauty. His eyes are indeed lively, but his 
looks are frightful. His complexion is composed of a mixture of high red, blue, yellow, and . 
green. His head is large. His neck is quite sunk between his shoulders, and his figure is short 
and gross." — Letters, vol. iii., p. 67. 

t Frederick had taken the fancy of calling his companions by classical names. Suhm was 
Diaphanes ; Keyserling was called Cassarion, etc. 



182 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



to dress and hold a tobacco parliament, as formerly. Quite a 
numerous party of his customary cabinet was assembled, and the 
circle .was full. The pipes were lighted ; the king was in good- 
humor ; the beer-pots circulated merrily ; and as every one made 
an effort to be agreeable, the scene was unusually animated. 
Quite unexpectedly, in the midst of the lively talk, the door 
opened, and the Crown Prince entered. Simultaneously, as by a 




THE CROWN PRINCE ENTERING THE TOBACCO PARLIAMENT. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 183 

common instinct, the whole company arose and bowed profound- 
ly to the young prince. The king was exceedingly annoyed. 
Trembling with rage, he exclaimed, 

" This is the homage you render the rising sun, though you 
know that the rule in the tobacco parliament is to rise to no one. 
You think I am dead. But I will teach you that I am yet liv- 
ing." 

Kinging violently for his servants, and deaf to all protestations 
and excuses, he had himself immediately rolled from the room. 
As the courtiers stood bewildered and gazing at each other in 
consternation, an officer came in with an order from the king that 
they should all leave the palace immediately, and come not back 
again. The next' morning Pollnitz, who occupied a position 
somewhat similar to that of prime minister, applied for admis- 
sion to his majesty's apartment. But a gendarme seized him by 
the shoulder and turned him around, saying, " There is no ad- 
mittance." It was several days, and not till after repeated acts 
of humiliation, that the king would permit any member of the 
parliament again to enter his presence. 

In the latter part of April, the weather being very fine, the 
king decided to leave Berlin and retire to his rural palace at 
Potsdam. It seems, however, that he was fully aware that his 
days were nearly ended, for upon leaving the city he said, "Fare 
thee well, then, Berlin ; I am going to die in Potsdam." The 
winter had been one of almost unprecedented severity, and the 
month of May was cold and wet. As the days wore on the 
king's health fluctuated, and he was continually struggling be- 
tween life and death. The king, with all his great imperfections, 
was a thoughtful man. As he daily drew near the grave, the 
dread realities of the eternal world oppressed his mind. He sent 
for three clergymen of distinction, to converse with them respect- 
ing his preparation for the final judgment. It seems that they 
were very faithful with him, reminding him of his many acts of 
violence and tyranny, alluding particularly to his hanging Baron 
Schlubhut, at Konigsberg, without even a trial. The king en- 
deavored to defend himself, saying, 

"It is true that Schlubhut had no trial, but he certainly de- 
served his doom. He was a public thief, stealing the taxes he 
was sent to gather ; insolently offering to repay, as if that were 



184: FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

all the amends required ; and saying that it was not good man- 
ners to hang a nobleman." 

Still the clergymen pressed upon him his sins, his many acts 
of oppression, his unrelenting and unforgiving spirit. Singular- 
ly enough, most of the members of the tobacco parliament were 
present at this strange interview; and some of them, courtier 
like, endeavored to defend the king against several of the charges 
brought against him. The king might emphatically be called a 
good hater ; and he hated his brother-in-law, the King of En- 
gland, perhaps with passion as implacable as ever took posses- 
sion of a human heart. In allusion to this, one of the clergy- 
men, M. Roloff, said, 

" There is the forgiveness of enemies. Your majesty is bound 
to forgive all men. If you do not do this, how can you ask to 
be forgiven V 

The king had a logical mind. He could keenly feel where the 
argument pinched. He seemed quite troubled. After a mo- 
ment's pause, he said, "Well, I will do it." Then, turning to the 
queen, he said, " You, Phiekin, may write to your brother, after 
I am dead, and tell him that I forgave him, and died at peace 
with him." 

" It would be better," M. Roloff mildly suggested, " that your 
majesty should write at once." 

"No," said the king, sternly and peremptorily. "Write after 
I am dead. That will be safer." 

> At parting, the king bore magnanimous testimony to the fidel- 
ity of his spiritual advisers. He said to M. Roloff, who had been 
the principal speaker, " You do not spare me. It is right. You 
do your duty like an honest Christian man." 

For such a mind and such a body there could be no .possible 
peace or repose in the dying-chamber. Feverish, restless, sleep- 
less, impatient, he knew not what to do with himself. He was 
incessantly passing from his bed to his wheel-chair and back 
again, irascibly demanding this and that, complaining of every 
body and every thing. Sometimes he would declare that he 
would no longer be sick, but would dress and be well ; and 
scarcely would he get his clothes on ere he would sink in faint- 
ing weakness, as though he had not another hour to live. Thus 
the sad days of sickness wore away as death drew near. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 185 

On the 26th of May the Crown Prince received an express in- 
forming him that his father was dying, and that he must hasten 
to Potsdam with the utmost speed if he would ever again see 
him alive. Reinsberg was about thirty miles north from Pots- 
dam. It took the courier some hours to reach the place. Freder- 
ick, with emotions not easily imagined, started before the dawn 
of the morning, followed by a train of attendants, to hasten to the 
death-bed of his father, and to receive the kingly crown of Prussia. 

As he reached Potsdam and turned the corner of the palace, 
he saw, at a little distance, a small crowd gathered around some 
object ; and soon, to his inexpressible surprise, beheld his father, 
dressed, in his wheel-chair, out of doors, giving directions about 
laying the foundations of a house he had undertaken to build. 
The old king, at the sight of his son, threw open his arms, and 
Frederick, kneeling before him, buried his face in his father's lap, 
and they wept together. The affecting scene forced tears into 
the eyes of all the by-standers. Frederick William, upon recov- 
ering from a fainting-fit, had insisted that he would not die, and 
had compelled his attendants to dress him and conduct him to 
the open air. 

But the exertion, and the emotion occasioned by the interview 
with his son, prostrated him again. He was taken back into his 
palace and to his bed more dead than alive. Reviving a little 
in the afternoon, he dictated to Frederick all the arrangements 
he wished to have adopted in reference to his funeral. This cu- 
rious document is characteristic, in every line, of the strange man. 
His. coffin, which was of massive oak carpentry, had been made 
for some time, and was in the king's chamber awaiting its occu- 
pant. He not unfrequently, with affected or real complacency, 
fixed his eyes upon it, saying, " I shall sleep right well there." 
In the minute directions to his son as to his burial, he said, 

" As soon as I am dead, my body must be washed, a white 
shirt must be placed upon it, and it must be stretched out upon 
a table. They must then shave and wash me, and cover me 
with a sheet. After four hours my body must be opened. The 
surgeons of the regiments in town will examine into the mal- 
ady which has caused my death. They will then dress me in 
my best clothes, with all my decorations. Then I am to be 
placed in my coffin, and thus left all night. 



186 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" The next day the battalions will be formed in complete or- 
der, each grenadier with three cartridges. Crape will be placed 
about the colors, the drums, the fifes, and hautboys. Every offi- 
cer will have crape on his hat, around his arm, and on the hilt 
of his sword. The funeral car will be placed near the green 
staircase, with the heads of the horses toward the river. Eight 
captains of my regiment will carry me toward the funeral car. 
These eight captains will also take me out of the car, and carry 
me into the church. 

"As soon as the car shall begin to move, the drums shall beat 
the dead march, and the hautboys shall play the well-known an- 
them, '■ O blessed head, covered with blood and wounds ? The 
car will stop at the iron gate. The regiment will defile before 
it. My two sons, Augustus William and Henry, will remain with 
the regiment. You, as my eldest son, with little Ferdinand, my 
youngest son, will walk in uniform behind the car. 

" When the body has been carried into the church, there shall 
be placed upon the coffin my handsomest sword, my best scarf, 
a pair of gilt spurs, and a gilt helmet. There shall be brought 
from Berlin twenty-four six-pounders, which shall make twelve 
discharges singly. Then the battalions will fire. 

"I forbid any funeral sermon to be preached over me. In the 
evening a festival will be given in the great room in the garden. 
The cask of hock which I have in my cellar must be opened. At 
this repast good wine alone shall be drank. 

"A fortnight after a funeral sermon shall be preached for me 
in all the churches. The text shall be, ' I have fought a good 
fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept the faith. 9 They 
shall not speak any thing of my life, of my actions, nor any thing 
personal of me. But they shall tell the people that I confessed 
my sins, and that I died in full confidence of the goodness of 
God and of my Savior." 

During the next three days the king suffered much from weak- 
ness and a violent cough. He was often heard murmuring pray- 
ers, and would say to those around him, " Pray for me-; pray for 
me." Several times he pathetically exclaimed, " Lord, enter not 
into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man 
living be justified." A favorite hymn was often sung to him 
containing the words, " Naked came I into the world, and naked 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 187 

shall I go out of it." At this passage he repeatedly exclaimed, 
with much vivacity, as though it were an admirable joke, " No, 
not quite naked ; I shall have my uniform on." 

At one o'clock in the morning of May 31 he sent for a clergy- 
man, M. Cochius, and seemed to be in great distress both of body 
and of mind. " I fear," said he, " that I have a great deal of pain 
yet to suffer. I can remember nothing. I can not pray. I have 
forgotten all my prayers." M. Cochius endeavored to console 
him. At the close of the interview the king said, sadly, " Fare 
thee well. We shall most probably never meet again in this 
world." He was then rolled, in his wheel-chair, into the cham- 
ber of the queen. 

" Oh, Phiekin, my Phiekin !" said he, " thou must rise and help 
me what thou canst. This day I am going to die. Thou must 
be with me this day." 

The dying king strangely decided, at that late hour, to abdi- 
cate. All the officials were hurriedly summoned to his cham- 
ber. The poor old man, bandaged, with his night-cap on, and a 
mantle thrown over him, was wheeled into the anteroom where 
the company was assembled. As he saw Pollnitz he exclaimed, 
sadly, "It is all over." Noticing one in tears, he said to him, 
kindly, " Nay, my friend, this is a debt we all have to pay." The 
king then solemnly abdicated in favor of his " good son Freder- 
ick." The deed was made out, signed, and sealed. But scarce- 
ly was it executed ere the king fainted, and was carried to his 
bed. Still the expiring lamp of life flickered in its socket. 
About eleven o'clock the clergyman, M. Cochius, was sent for. 
The king was in his bed, apparently speechless. He, however, 
revived a little, and was in great pain, often exclaiming, " Pray 
for me ; pray for me ; my trust is in the Savior." He called for 
a mirror, and carefully examined his face for some moments, say- 
ing at intervals, " Not so worn out as I thought." " An ugly 
face." "As good as dead already."* 

* Bielfeld informs us that "about one in the afternoon he sent for Ellert, his first physician, 
and asked him if he thought that his life and his sufferings could continue long, and if the ago- 
nies of his last moments would be great. The physician answered, ' Your majesty has already 
arrived at that period. I feel the pulse retire. It now beats below your elbow. ' 

" The king inquired, ' Where will it retire at last ?' 

"'To the heart,' the doctor replied. ' And in about an hour it will cease to beat at all.' 

" On which the king said, with perfect resignation, ' God's will be done !' " — Letters, vol. iii., 
p. 127. 



188 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

He then summoned his physician, M. Pitsch, and said, " Feel 
my pulse. Tell me how long this will last." 

The physician replied, " Alas ! not long." 

" Say not alas," added the king. " But how do you know V 

" The pulse is gone," the physician said, sadly. 

The king seemed surprised, raised his hand, opening and shut- 
ting the fingers, and then said, " It is impossible. How could I 
move my fingers so if the pulse were gone V 

M. Pitsch made no reply. The king, probably feeling at the 
moment some physical monition of approaching death, cried out, 
" Lord Jesus, to thee I live. Lord Jesus, to thee I die. In life 
and in death thou art my gain." 

These were his last words. He fainted, and, after a few gasps, 
died. It was about two o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday, the 
31st of May, 1740. Thus the soul of Frederick William passed 
to the spirit land, in the fifty-first year of its sojourn here on earth. 

The king having "breathed his last, Frederick, in tears, retired 
to a private room, there to reflect upon the sad receding past, 
and upon the opening future, with the vast responsibilities thus 
suddenly thrown upon him. He was now King of Prussia ; and 
not only absolute master of himself, but absolute monarch over 
a realm containing two millions two hundred and forty thou- 
sand souls. He was restrained by no Parliament, no Constitu- 
tion, no customs or laws superior to his own resolves. He could 
take advice of others, and call energetic men to his aid, but his 
will alone was sovereign. 

The Prussian kingdom, which thus fell to Frederick by " di- 
vine right," consisted of an assemblage of duchies, marquisates, 
principalities, and lordships, comprising an area of nearly fifty- 
seven thousand square miles, being about the size of the State 
of Michigan, and very similarly situated as to climate and soil. 
It was unfortunately not a compact country, as several of the 
states could only be reached by passing through the territories 
of other powers. The annual revenue amounted to a little over 
six million dollars. There was also in the treasury a sum, which 
Frederick William had saved, of about seven million dollars. 
The army consisted of seventy-six thousand men, in the highest 
state of discipline, and abundantly furnished with all the materiel 
of war. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 189 

Quite an entire change seemed immediately to take place in 
the character of the young king. M. Bielfeld was the first who 
was introduced to his apartment after the death of Frederick 
William. Frederick was in tears, and seemed much affected. 

" You do not know," said he to M. Bielfeld, "what I have lost 
in losing my father." 

" It is true, sire," Bielfeld replied, " but I know very well what 
you have gained in getting a kingdom. Your loss is great, but 
your motives for consolation are very powerful." 

The king smiled, and immediately entered very vigorously 
upon business. It was not possible, under these circumstances, 
for him deeply to mourn over the death of so tyrannical a father. 
Frederick was twenty-eight years of age. He is described as a 
handsome young man, five feet seven inches in stature, and of 
graceful presence. The funeral ceremonies of the deceased mon- 
arch were conducted essentially according to the programme al- 
ready given. The body of the king mouldered to dust in the 
sepulchre of his fathers. His spirit returned to the God who 
gave it. 

" The mind is its own place, and in itself 
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." 

If these words are true, which Milton places in the lips of the 
apostate fiend, it is appalling to think of the ungoverned and un- 
governable spirit with which the king entered the unseen world. 
We know not that there is any power in the alembic of death 
to transform the character ; and certain it is that if Frederick 
William carried with him to the abode of spirits the same char- 
acter which he cherished in this world, there are but few who 
could be rendered happy by his society. But we must leave 
him with his God, and return to the stormy scenes upon which 
his son now entered. 

The young sovereign commenced his reign with the utterance 
of very noble sentiments. The day after his accession he assem- 
bled the chief officers of his father to administer to them the oath 
of allegiance. He urged them to be humane in the exercise of 
all authority which might be delegated to them. 

" Our grand care," said he, " will be to further the country's 
well-being, and to make every one of our subjects contented and 
happy. If it ever chance that my particular interest and the 



190 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 













FREDERICK MEETING HIS MINISTERS. 



general good of my country should seem to conflict, it is my wish 
that the latter should always be preferred." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 191 



CHAPTER X. 

THE ACCESSION OF FREDERICK THE SECOND. 

Establishment of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. — Religious Toleration. — A Free Press. — 
Sternness of the young King. — Domestic Habits of the King. — Provision for the Queen-moth- 
er. — Absolutism of the King. — Journey to Strasbourg. — First Interview with Voltaire. 

The conduct of Frederick the Second, upon his accession to 
the throne, was in accordance with his professions. The winter 
had been intensely cold. The spring was late and wet. There 
was almost a famine in the land. The public granaries, which 
the foresight of his father had established, contained large stores 
of grain, which were distributed to the poor at very low prices. 
A thousand aged and destitute women in Berlin were provided 
with rooms, well warmed, where they spun in the service of the 
king, with good wages, and in their grateful hearts ever thank- 
ing their benefactor. He abolished the use of torture in crimi- 
nal trials, not forgetting that he himself had come very near hav- 
ing his limbs stretched upon the rack. This important decree, 
which was hailed with joy all over Prussia, was issued the third 
day after his accession. 

Very vigorous measures were immediately adopted to estab- 
lish an Academy pf Sciences. The celebrated French philoso- 
pher Maupertuis, who had just obtained great renown from meas- 
uring a degree of the meridian at the polar circle, was invited 
to organize this very important institute. The letter to the phi- 
losopher, written by the king but a few days after his accession, 
was as follows : 

" My heart and my inclination excited in me, from the mo- 
ment I mounted the throne, the desire of having you here, that 
you might put our Berlin Academy in the shape you alone are 
capable of giving it. Come then, come, and insert into this wild 
crab-tree the sciences, that it may bear fruit. You have shown 
the figure of the earth to mankind; show also to a king how 
sweet it is to possess such a man as you. 

" Monsieur De Maupertuis, your very affectionate 

" Frederick." 



192 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

On the 2 2d of June a complaint was made to the king that 
the Eoman Catholic schools were perverted to seducing Protest- 
ants to become Catholics. Frederick returned the complaint 
with the following words written upon the margin : 

" All religions must be tolerated, and the king's solicitor must 
have an eye that none of them make unjust encroachments on 
the other ; for in this country every man must get to heaven his 
own way." 

It is a fact worthy of mention, as illustrative of the neglect 
with which the king had regarded his own German language in 
his devotion to the French tongue, that in these three lines there 
were eleven words wrongly spelled. 

But the good sense of the utterance, so rare in those dark 
days, electrified thousands of minds. It drew the attention of 
Europe to Frederick, and gave him wide-spread renown. 

Under Frederick William the newspaper press in Berlin 
amounted to nothing. The capital had not a single daily paper. 
Speedy destruction would crush any writer who, in journal, 
pamphlet, or book, should publish any thing displeasing to the 
king. Frederick proclaimed freedom of the press. Two news- 
papers were established in Berlin, one in French and one in Ger- 
man. Distinguished men w T ere selected to edit them. One was 
a noted writer from Hamburg. Frederick, in his absolutism, 
had adopted the resolve not to interfere with the freedom of the 
press unless there were some gross violation of what he deemed 
proper. He allowed very bitter satires to be circulated in Ber- 
lin against himself, simply replying to the remonstrances of his 
ministers, "The press is free? 

Such were the measures adopted during the first week of 
Frederick's reign. He soon abolished the enormously expensive 
regiment of giants, and organized, instead of them, four regiments 
composed of men of the usual stature.* Within a few months 
he added sixteen thousand men to his already large army, thus 

* Frederick William, in his reviews of the giant guard, was frequently attended by the foreign 
ministers who chanced to be at his court. On one of these occasions he asked the French min- 
ister if he thought that an equal number of the soldiers of France would venture to engage with 
these troops. With politeness, characteristic of the nation, the minister replied that it was im- 
possible that men of the ordinary stature should think of such an attempt. The same question 
was asked of the English embassador. He replied, " I can not affirm that an equal number of 
my countrymen would beat them, but I think that I may safely say that half the number would 
try." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 193 

raising the number of the standing army of his little realm to 
over ninety thousand men. He compelled his old associates to 
feel, and some of them very keenly, that he was no longer their 
comrade, but their king. One of the veteran and most honored 
officers of Frederick William, in his expressions of condolence 
and congratulation, ventured to suggest the hope that he and 
his sons might continue to " occupy the same posts and retain 
the same authority as in the last reign.". 

"You will retain your posts" said the king, severely. "I have 
no thought of making any change. But as to authority, I know 
of none there can be but what resides in the king that is sover- 
eign." 

The Marquis of Schwedt advanced to meet the new-made sov- 
ereign, his face beaming jovially, and with outstretched hands, 
as in the days of their old companionship. Frederick, fixing his 
cold eye steadfastly upon him, almost floored him with the re- 
buff, " My cousin, I am now king." 

General Schulenburg, trembling in memory of the fact that he 
had once, in court-martial, given his vote in favor of beheading 
the Crown Prince, hastened from his post at Landsberg to con- 
gratulate the prince upon his accession to the throne. To his 
extreme chagrin and indignation, he was repelled by the words, 
" An officer should not quit his post without order. Return im- 
mediately to Landsberg." 

As an administrative officer the young sovereign was inexora- 
ble and heartless in the extreme. Those who had befriended 
him in the days of his adversity were not remembered with any 
profusion of thanks or favors. Those who had been in sympa- 
thy with his father in his persecution of the Crown Prince en- 
countered no spirit of revenge. Apparently dead to affection, 
and oblivious- of the past, the young sovereign only sought for 
those agents who could best assist him in the work to which he 
now consecrated all his energies — the endeavor to aggrandize 
the kingdom of Prussia. Poor Doris Eitter received but a triv- 
ial pension for her terrible wrongs. Lieutenant Keith, his friend 
and confederate in his contemplated flight, who had barely es- 
caped with his life from Wesel, after ten years of exile hastened 
home, hoping that his faithful services and sufferings would meet 
with a reward. The king appointed him merely lieutenant col- 

N 



194 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

onel, with scarcely sufficient income to keep him from absolute 
want. Perhaps the king judged that the young man was not 
capable of filling, to the advantage of the state, a higher station, 
and he had no idea of sacrificing his interests to gratitude. 

Ten years later the king made poor Keith a present of a purse 
of gold, containing about seven thousand dollars, under circum- 
stances which reflected much credit upon the donor. In the fol- 
lowing quaint style Carlyle records the incident : 

" The king did a beautiful thing to Lieutenant Keith the oth- 
er day — that poor Keith who was nailed to the gallows, in effigy, 
for him at Wesel, long ago, and got far less than he expected. 
The other day there had been a grand review, part of it extend- 
ing into Madame Knyphausen's grounds, who is Keith's mother- 
in-law. 

" ' Monsieur Keith,' said the king to him, ' I am sorry we had 
to spoil Madame's fine shrubbery by our manoeuvres ; have the 
goodness to give her that, with my apologies,' and handed him 
a pretty casket with key to it, and in the interior 10,000 crowns. 

" Not a shrub of Madame's had been cut or injured. But the 
king, you see, would count it £1500 of damage done, and here is 
acknowledgment for it, which please accept. Is not that a gra- 
cious little touch ?" 

One wretched man, who had been the guilty accomplice of the 
Crown Prince in former scenes of guilt and shame, was so troub- 
led by the neglect with which he was treated that he hanged 
himself. 

Frederick, as Crown Prince, had been quite methodical in the 
distribution of his time, and had cultivated rigid habits of in- 
dustry. Now, fully conscious of the immense duties and cares 
which would devolve upon him as king, he entered into a very 
systematic arrangement of the employments of each hour, to 
which he rigidly adhered during nearly the whole of his reign 
of forty-six years. He ordered his servants to wake him at four 
o'clock every morning. Being naturally inclined to sleep, he 
found it hard to shake off his lethargy. The attendants were 
therefore directed, every morning, to place upon his forehead a 
towel dipped in cold water. He thus continued to rise at four 
o'clock, summer and winter, until an advanced age. 

A single servant lighted his lire, shaved him, and dressed his 



FKEDERICK THE GREAT. 195 

haii\ He always wore the uniform of his guards, and allowed 
only fifteen minutes for his morning toilet. He did not indulge 
in the luxury of slippers or dressing-gown, though occasionally, 
when ill, he put on a sort of linen wrapper, but even then he 
wore his military boots. Only on one day in the year did he 
appear in silk stockings, and that was on the birthday of his 
neglected wife, when he formally called upon her with his con- 
gratulations. 

The ordinary routine of the day, when not absent on travels 
or campaigns, was as follows : As soon as dressed, one of his 
pages brought the packet of letters. The number was usually 
very large. He employed himself in reading these letters till 
eight o'clock. By a particular style of folding, he designated 
those to which no reply was to be returned, those to which there 
was to be an immediate reply, and those which required further 
consideration. At eight o'clock one of the four secretaries of 
the cabinet entered, took the three parcels, and, while the king 
was breakfasting, received from him very briefly the character 
of the response to be made. 

At nine o'clock Frederick received one of the general officers, 
and arranged with him all the military affairs of the day, usual- 
ly dismissing him loaded with business. At ten o'clock he re- 
viewed some one of the regiments ; and then, after attending pa- 
rade, devoted himself to literary pursuits or private correspond- 
ence until dinner-time. This was the portion of the day he usu- 
ally appropriated to authorship. He was accustomed to com- 
pose, both in prose and verse, while slowly traversing the grav- 
eled walks of his garden. 

He was particularly fond of dogs of the graceful greyhound 
breed, and might often be seen with book and pencil in his hand, 
in the shady walks, with three or four Italian greyhounds gam- 
boling around him, apparently entirely absorbed in deep medi- 
tation. A page usually followed at a short distance behind, to 
attend his call. At twelve o'clock he dined with invited guests. 
As quite a number of distinguished men always met at his table, 
and the king was very fond of good living, as well as of the 
" feast of reason and the flow of soul," the repast was frequently 
prolonged until nearly three o'clock. At dinner he was very so- 
cial, priding himself not a little upon his conversational powers. 



196 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



In pleasant weather lie took a long walk after dinner, and 
generally at so rapid a pace that it was difficult for most persons 




FREDERICK IN THE GARDEN. 



to keep up with him. At four o'clock the secretaries brought 
to him the answers to the letters which they had received from 
him in the morning. He glanced them over, examining some 
with care. Then, until six o'clock, he devoted himself to reading, 
to literary compositions, and to the affairs of the Academy, in 
which he took a very deep interest. At six o'clock he had a 
private musical concert, at which he performed himself upon the 
flute. He was passionately fond of fnis instrument, and contin- 
ued to play upon it until, in old age, his teeth decaying, he was 
unable to produce the sounds he wished. 

After the concert, which usually continued an hour, he en- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 197 

gaged in conversation until ten o'clock. He then took supper 
with a few friends, and at eleven retired to his bed. 

To his mother he was very considerate in all his manifesta- 
tions of filial affection, while, at the same time, he caused her 
very distinctly to understand that she was to take no share 
whatever in the affairs of government. When she addressed 
him, upon his accession to the throne, as "Your Majesty," he re- 
plied, " Call me son. That is the title of all others most agree- 
able to me." He decreed to her the title of "Her Majesty the 
Queen -mother." The palace of Monbijou was assigned her, 
where she was surrounded with every luxury, treated with the 
most distinguished attention, and her court was the acknowl- 
edged centre of fashionable society. 

He seems ever to have treated his nominal wife, Queen Eliza- 
beth, politely. For some months after the accession he was quite 
prominent in his public attentions to her. But these intervals 
of association grew gradually more rare, until after three or four 
years they ceased almost entirely, 

Frederick, under the tutelage of his stern father, had not en- 
joyed the privileges of foreign travel. While other princes of 
far humbler expectations were taking the grand tour of Europe, - 
the Crown Prince was virtually imprisoned in the barracks, day 
after day, engaged in the dull routine of drilling the giant guard. 
After the death of his father he did not condescend to be crowrP] 
ed, proudly assuming, in contradiction to some of his earlier 
teachiDgs, that the crown was already placed upon his brow by 
divine power. He, however, exacted from the people through- '* 
out his realms oaths of allegiance, and in person visited several 
of the principal cities to administer those oaths with much pomp 
of ceremony. The Danish envoy, writing home to his govern- 
ment respecting the administration of Frederick, says, 

" I must observe that hitherto the King of Prussia does, as it 
were, every thing himself; and that, excepting the finance min- 
ister, who preaches frugality, and finds for that doctrine uncom- 
mon acceptance, his majesty allows no counseling from any min- 
ister ; so that the minister for foreign affairs has nothing to clo 
but to expedite the orders he receives, his advice not being asked 
upon any matter. And so it is with the other ministers." > 

On the 12th of June, but a fortnight after his accession, Fred- 



198 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

erick wrote from Charlottenburg to Voltaire, who was then at 
Brussels, as follows : 

" My dear Voltaire, — Resist no longer the eagerness I have 
to see you. Do, in my favor, whatever your humanity allows. 
In the end of August I go to Wesel, and perhaps farther. Prom- 
ise that you will come and join me, for I could not live happy 
nor die tranquil without having embraced you. Thousand com- 
pliments to the Marquise" (Madame Du Chatelet, the divine 
Emilie). " I am busy with both hands — working at the army 
with one hand, at the people and the fine arts with the other." 

It would seem that Frederick was not very willing to receive, 
as his guest, the divine Emilie, who occupied so questionable a 
position in the household of Voltaire ; for he wrote again, on the 
5th of August, in reply to a letter from Voltaire, saying, 

" I will write to Madame Du Chatelet in compliance with your 
wish. To speak to you frankly concerning her journey, it is Vol- 
taire, it is you, it is my friend that I desire to see. I can not say 
whether I shall travel or not travel. Adieu, dear friend, sublime 
spirit, first-born of thinking beings. Love me always sincerely, 
and be persuaded that none can love and esteem you more 
than I." 

Again the next day he wrote : 

<% You will have received a letter from me dated yesterday. 
This is the second I write to you from Berlin. I refer you to 
what was in the other. If it must be that Emilie accompany 
Apollo, I consent. But if I could see you alone, that is what I 
should prefer. I should be too much dazzled. I could not stand 
so much splendor all at once. It would overpower me. I should 
need the veil of Moses to temper the united radiance of your 
two divinities." 

In return, Voltaire compliments the king very profusely. 
Speaking of the book of the royal author, the Anti-3fachiavel, 
he writes : 

" It is a monument for the latest posterity ; the only book 
worthy of a king for these fifteen hundred years."* 

* Voltaire, after he had quarreled with Frederick, gave the following amusing account of a 
gift he received from the king soon after his accession to the throne : " He began his reign by 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 199 

Frederick was very desirous of visiting France, whose litera- 
ture, science, and distinguished men he so greatly admired. Ear- 
ly Monday morning, the 15th of August, the king left Potsdam 
to visit his sister Wilhelmin a, intending then to continue his jour- 
ney incognito into France, and, if circumstances favored, as far as 
Paris. The kins: assumed the name of the Count Dufour. His 
next younger brother, William, eighteen years of age, accompa- 
nied him, also under an assumed name. xJWilliam was now Crown 
Prince, to inherit the throne should Frederick leave no children!) 
Six other gentlemen composed the party. They traveled in two 
coaches, with but few attendants, and avoided all unnecessary 
display. 

Frederick spent three days with his sister at Baireuth. Wil- 
helmina was disappointed in his appearance. The brotherly af- 
fection she looked for was not found. He was cold, stately, dis- 
posed to banter her, and his conversation seemed " set on stilts." 
Leaving Baireuth, the king continued his journey very rapidly 
toward Strasbourg. When they reached Kehl, on the eastern 
banks of the Rhine, they were informed that they could not cross 
the river without passports. One of the gentlemen drew up the 
necessary document, which the king signed and sealed with his 
signet-ring. The curiosity of the landlord had been excited, and 
he watched his guests from a closet. Seeing what was done, he 
said to Frederstorf, the king's valet, " Count Dufour is the King 
of Prussia, sir ; 1 saw him sign his name." He was bribed to 
keep the secret. 

When they reached Strasbourg they provided themselves with 
French dresses. The king and his brother put up at different 
inns, that they might be less liable to suspicion. Frederick, 

sending an embassador extraordinary to France, one Camas, who had lost an arm. He said 
that, as there was a- minister from the French court at Berlin who had bat one hand, he, that he 
might acquit himself of all obligation toward the most Christian king, had sent him an embas- 
sador with one arm. Camas, as soon as he arrived safe at his inn, dispatched a lad to tell me 
that he was too much fatigued to come to my house, and therefore begged that I would come 
to him instantly, he having the finest, greatest, and most magnificent present that was ever pre- 
sented to make me on the part of the king his master. 'Run, run, as fast as you can,' said 
Madame Du Chatelet; 'he has assuredly sent you the diamonds of the crown.' Away I ran, 
and found my embassador, whose only baggage was a small keg of wine, tied behind his chaise, 
sent from the cellar of the late king by the reigning monarch, with a royal command for me to 
drink. I emptied myself in protestations of astonishment and gratitude for these liquid marks 
of his majesty's bounty, instead of the solid ones I had been taught to expect, and divided my 
keg with Camas." — Memoirs, p. 34. 



200 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

with several of his party, took lodgings at the Raven Hotel. He 
sent the landlord out to invite several army officers to sup with 
a foreign gentleman, Count Dufour, from Bohemia, who was an 
entire stranger in the place. Some of the officers very perempto- 
rily declined the invitation, considering it an imposition. Three, 
however, allured by the singularity of the summons, repaired to 
the inn. The assumed count received them with great courtesy, 
apologized for the liberty he had taken, thanked them for their 
kindness, and assured them that, being a stranger, he was very 
happy to make the acquaintance of so many brave officers, whose 
society he valued above that of all others. 

The companions of the king were well-bred men, of engaging 
manners, commanding intelligence, and accustomed to authority. 
The entertainment was superb, with an abundance of the richest 
wines. The conversation took a wide range, and was interesting 
and exciting to a high degree. The French officers were quite 
bewildered by the scene. The count was perfect master of the 
French language, was very brilliant in his sallies, and seemed 
perfectly familiar with all military affairs. He was treated with 
remarkable deference by his companions, some of whom were 
far his superiors in years. 

The entertainment was prolonged until a late hour of the 
night. The delighted guests, as they retired, urged their host to 
attend parade with them in the morning, offering to come in per- 
son to conduct him to the ground. The count, with pleasure, 
accepted the invitation. In the morning he was escorted to the 
parade-ground. His fame spread rapidly, Friends multiplied. 
He was invited to sup with the officers in the evening, and ac- 
cepted the invitation. Marshal Broglio, a very stately gentle- 
man of seventy years, was military governor at Strasbourg. The 
count and one of his companions, the distinguished philosopher 
Count Algarotti, were invited to dine with the marshal. The 
supper given in the evening by the officers was brilliant. They 
then repaired to the opera. A poor little girl came to the box 
with a couple of lottery tickets for sale. Fredericks gave her 
four ducats ($25), and tore up the tickets. 

Strasbourg began to echo with the fame of this foreign count. 
But the next morning, Thursday, August 25, as Marshal Brog- 
lio was walking on the Esplanade, a soldier, who had formerly 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 201 

been in the regiment of the Crown Prince at Potsdam, and who 
knew the Crown Prince perfectly, having seen him hundreds of 
times, but who had deserted and entered the French service, 
came to the marshal, with much bowing and embarrassment, and 
assured him that Count Dufour was no less than the King of 
Prussia. 

The secret was now out. The tidings flew in all directions 
that the King of Prussia was in Strasbourg incognito. The 
king, not yet aware of the detection, called upon the marshal. 
A crowd of officers gathered eagerly around. The marshal was 
much embarrassed in his desire to respect the incognito, and also 
to manifest the consideration due to a sovereign. No one yet 
ventured to address him as king, though there were many indi- 
cations that his rank was beginning to be known. Frederick 
therefore decided to get out of the city as soon as possible. To 
conceal his design, he made arrangements to attend the theatre 
with the marshal in the evening. The marshal went to the the- 
atre with all his officers. The building was crowded w r ith the 
multitude hoping to see the king. Bonfires began to blaze in 
the streets, and shouts were heard of " Long live the King of 
Prussia." Frederick hastily collected his companions, paid his 
enormous bill at the Raven, " shot off like lightning," and was 
seen in Strasbourg no more. 

Voltaire was at this time in Brussels. Frederick wrote him 
from Wesel, under date of 2d September, 1740, giving a narra- 
tive of his adventures, partly in prose, partly in verse. It was a 
long, communication, the rhyme very much like that which a 
bright school-girl would write upon the gallop. The following 
specimen of this singular production will give the reader a suf- 
ficient idea of the whole : 

"My dear Voltaire, — You wish to know what I have been 
about since leaving Berlin. Annexed you will find a descrip- 
tion of it. 

"I have just finished a journey intermingled with singular ad- 
ventures, sometimes pleasant, sometimes the reverse. You know 
I had set out for Baireuth to see a sister whom I love no less 
than esteem. On the road Algarotti and I consulted the map 
to settle our route for returning by Wesel. Frankfort-on-the- 



202 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Main comes always as a principal stage. Strasbourg was no 
great roundabout. We chose that route in preference. The in- 
cognito was decided, names pitched upon, story we were to tell. 
In fine, all was arranged as well as possible. We fancied we 
should get to Strasbourg in three days. 

' ' Mais le ciel, qui de tout dispose, (But Heaven, which of all disposes, 

Re'gla diffe'remment la chose. Regulated differently the thing. 

Avec de coursiers efflanques, With coursers lank-sided, 

Et des paysans en postilions masques, And peasants as postiUions disguised, 

Butors de race impertinente, Blockheads of race impertinent, 

Notre carrosse en cent lieux accroche, Our carriages in a hundred places sticking, 
Nous allions gravement d'une allure indolente, We went gravely at a slow pace, 

Gravitant contre les rochers, Knocking against the rocks, 

L'airs emus par le bruyant tonnere. The air agitated by loud thunder. 

Les toiTents d'eau repandus sur la terre Torrents of water spread over the earth 

Du dernier jour menacaient les humains. With the last day threatened mankind. 

Et malgre notre impatience, And notwithstanding our impatience, 

Quatre bons jours en penitence Four good days in penance 

Sont pour jamais perdus dans les charrains." Are forever lost in these jumbles.) 

" Had all our fatalities been limited to stoppages of speed on 
the journey, we should have taken patience. But after frightful 
roads we found lodgings still more frightful." 

Then came another strain of verse. Thus the prose and the 
doggerel were interspersed through the long narrative. Though 
very truthful in character, it was a school-boy performance — a 
very singular document indeed to be sent to the most brilliant 
genius of that age, by one who soon proved himself to be the 
ablest sovereign in Europe. 

At Wesel the king met Maupertuis, to whom we have already 
alluded, who was then one of the greatest of European celebri- 
ties. His discovery of the flattening of the earth at the poles 
had given him such renown that the kings of Russia, Trance, 
and Prussia were all lavishing honors upon him. It was a great 
gratification to Frederick that he had secured his services in or- 
ganizing the Berlin Academy. While at Wesel the king was 
seized by a fever, which shut him up for a time in the small 
chateau of Moylancl. He had never yet met Voltaire, ^and being 
very anxious to see him, wrote to him as follows, under date of 
September 6th, 1740: 

" My deae Voltaiee, — In spite of myself, I have to yield to 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 203 

the quartan fever, which is more tenacious than a Jansenist. 
And whatever desire I had of going to Antwerp and Brussels, 
I find myself not in a condition to undertake such a journey 
without risk. I would ask of you, then, if the road from Brus- 
sels to Cleves would not to you seem too long for a meeting ? 
It is the one means of seeing you which remains to me. Con- 
fess that I am unlucky ; for now, when I could dispose of my 
person, and nothing hinders me from seeing you, the fever gets 
its hand into the business, and seems to intend disputing me 
that satisfaction. 

" Let us deceive the fever, my dear Voltaire, and let me have 
at least the pleasure of embracing you. Make my best excuses 
to Madame the Marquise that I can not have the satisfaction of 
seeing her at Brussels. All that are about me know the inten- 
tion I was in, which certainly nothing but the fever could make 
me change. 

" Sunday next I shall be at a little place near Cleves, where I 
shall be able to possess you at my ease. If the sight of you 
don't cure me, I will send for a confessor at once. Adieu. You 
know my sentiments and my heart. Frederick." 

In accordance with this request, Voltaire repaired to Cleves to 
visit the king. Many years afterward, having quarreled with 
Frederick, and being disposed to represent him in the most un- 
favorable light, he gave the following account of this interview 
in his Vie Privee : 

"The king said that he would come and see me incognito at 
Brussels. But having fallen ill a couple of leagues from Cleves, 
he wrote me that he expected I would make the advances. I 
went accordingly to present my profound homages. I found at 
the gate of the court-yard a single soldier on guard. The privy 
councilor Kambonet, Minister of State, was walking about the 
court, blowing on his fingers to warm them. He had on great 
ruffles of dirty linen, a hat with holes in it, and an old periwig, 
one end of which hung down into one of his pockets, while the 
other hardly covered his shoulder. 

" I was conducted into his majesty's apartment, where there 
was nothing but the bare walls. I perceived in a closet, lit by 
a single wax candle, a small bed, two feet and a half wide, on 



204 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



which lay a little man wrapped up in a cloak of coarse blue 
cloth. It was the king, who perspired and shivered, under a 
miserable coverlet, in a violent access of fever. I made my bow, 
and began the acquaintance by feeling his pulse, as if I had been 
his first physician. When the fit was passed he dressed himself 
and came to supper. Algarotti, Keyserling, Maupertuis, and the 
king's embassador to the States General made up the party. 
We talked learnedly respecting the immortality of the soul, lib- 
erty, and the Androgynes of Plato, and other small topics of that 
nature." 




FKEDERICK S FIRST INTERVIEW WITH VOLTAIRE. 

Frederick, who was then in the zenith of his admiration for 
Voltaire, describes as follows, in a letter to his friend M. Jordan, 
his impressions of the interview : 

" I have at length seen Voltaire, whom I was so anxious to 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 205 

know. But, alas ! I saw him when under the influence of my 
fever, and when my mind and my body were equally languid. 
With persons like him one ought not to be sick. On the con- 
trary, one ought to be specially well. He has the eloquence of 
Cicero, the mildness of Pliny, and the wisdom of Agrippa. He 
unites, in a word, all the collected virtues and talents of the three 
greatest men of antiquity. His intellect is always at work. 
Every drop of ink that falls from his pen is transformed at once 
into wit. He declaimed his Mahomet to us, an admirable trage- 
dy which he has composed. I could only admire in silence." 

Indeed, it would seem that, at the time, Voltaire must have 
been very favorably impressed by the appearance of his royal 
host. The account he then gave of the interview was very dif- 
ferent from that which, in his exasperation, he wrote twenty 
years afterward. In a letter to a friend, M. De Cideville, dated 
October 18th, 1740, Voltaire wrote: 

"When you sent me, inclosed in your letter, those verses for 
our Marcus Aurelius of the North, I fully intended to pay my 
court to him with them. He was at that time to have come to 
Brussels incognito. But the quartan fever, which unhappily he 
still has, deranged all his projects. He has sent me a courier to 
Brussels, and so I set out to find him in the neighborhood of 
Cleves. 

" It was there that I saw one of the most amiable men in the 
world, who forms the charm of society, who would be every 
where sought after if he were not a king; a philosopher without 
austerity, full of sweetness, complaisance, and obliging ways — 
not remembering that he is king when he meets his friends ; in- 
deed, so completely forgetting it that he made me too almost 
forget it, and I needed an effort of memory to recollect that I 
here saw, sitting at the foot of my bed, a sovereign who had an 
army of a hundred thousand men." 



206 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTER XL 



DIPLOMATIC INTRIGUES. 



The Herstal Affair.— The Summons.— Voltaire's Manifesto.— George II. visits Hanover.— The 
Visit of Wilhelmina to Berlin. — Unpopularity of the King. — Death of the Emperor Charles 
VI. 

On the River Maas, a few miles north of the present city of 
Liege, there was a celebrated castle called Herstal. For many 
generations feudal lords had there displayed their pomp and 
power; and it had been the theatre not only of princely revelry, 
but of many scenes of violence and blood. A surrounding terri- 
tory of a few thousand acres, cultivated by serfs, who were virtu- 
ally slaves, was the hereditary domain of the petty lords of the 
castle. A few miles south of the castle there was a monastery 
called Liege, which was a dependency of the lords of Herstal. 

Amid the vicissitudes of the revolving centuries the rollick- 
ing lords grew poor, and the frugal monks grew rich. A thrifty 
city rose around the monastery, and its bishop wielded a power, 
temporal and spiritual, more potent than had ever issued from 
the walls of the now crumbling and dilapidated castle. In some 
of the perplexing diplomatic arrangements of those days, the cas.- 
tle of Herstal, with its surrounding district, was transferred to 
Frederick William of Prussia. The peasants, who had heard of 
the military rigor of Prussia, where almost every able-bodied 
man was crowded into the army, were exceedingly troubled by 
this transfer, and refused to take the oath of allegiance to their 
new sovereign, who had thus succeeded to the ownership of 
themselves, their flocks, and their herds. The gleaming sabres 
of Frederick William's dragoons soon, however, brought them to 
terms. Thus compelled to submission, they remained unrecon- 
ciled and irritated. Upon the withdrawal of the Prussian troops, 
the authority of Frederick William over the Herstal people also 
disappeared, for they greatly preferred the milder rule of the 
Bishop of Liege. 

The bishop denied that Frederick William had any claim to 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 207 

Herstal. He brought forward a prior claim of his own in be- 
half of the Church. The Duke of Lorraine, when proprietor of 
the castle and its dependencies, had pawned it to the bishop for 
a considerable sum of money. This money, the bishop averred, 
had never been repaid. Consequently he claimed the property 
as still in his possession. 

George Lud wig, Count of Berg, who at this time was Bishop 
of Liege, was a feeble old man, tottering beneath the infirmities 
of eighty-two years. He did not venture upon physical resist- 
ance to the power of Prussia, but confined himself to protests, 
remonstrances, and to the continued exercise of his own govern- 
mental authority. As Herstal was many leagues distant from 
Berlin, was of comparatively little value, and could only be reach- 
ed by traversing foreign states, Frederick William offered to sell 
all his claims to it for about eighty thousand dollars. The pro- 
posal not being either accepted or rejected by the bishop, the 
king, anxious to settle the question before his death, sent an em- 
bassador to Liege, with full powers to arrange the difficulty by 
treaty. For three days the embassador endeavored in vain to 
obtain an audience. He then returned indignantly to Berlin. 
The king, of course, regarded this treatment as an insult. The 
bishop subsequently averred that the audience was prevented 
by his own sickness. Such was the posture of affairs when Fred- 
erick William died. 

Upon the accession of Frederick the Second, as officers were 
dispatched through the realm to exact oaths of allegiance, the 
Herstal people, encouraged by the bishop, refused to acknowl- 
edge fealty to the new king. Frederick was now in the district 
of Cleve, in the near vicinity of Herstal. He sent the following 
very decisive summons to the " Prince Bishop of Liege," dated 
Wesel, September 4, 1740 : 

" My Cousin, — Knowing all the assaults made by you upon 
my indisputable rights over my free barony of Herstal, and how 
the seditious ringleaders there, for several years past, have been 
countenanced by you in their detestable acts of disobedience 
against me, I have commanded my privy counselor, Rambonet, 
to repair to your presence, and in my name to require from you, 
within two days, a distinct and categorical answer to this ques- 
tion: 



208 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

"Whether you are still minded to assert your pretended sov- 
ereignty over Herstal, and whether you will protect the rebels 
at Herstal in their disorders and abominable disobedience ? 

" In case you refuse, or delay beyond the term, the answer 
which I hereby of right demand, you will render yourself alone 
responsible, before the world, for the consequences which infalli- 
bly will follow. I am, with much consideration, my cousin, your 
very affectionate cousin, Frederick." 

Eambonet presented the peremptory missive, and waited for- 
ty-eight hours for the answer. He then returned to Wesel with- 
out any satisfactory reply, Frederick immediately issued a man- 
ifesto, declaring the reasons for his action, and ordered two thou- 
sand men, horse and foot, who were all ready for the emergence, 
to advance immediately to Maaseyk, one of the principal towns 
of the bishop, take possession of it and of the surrounding re- 
gion, quarter themselves upon the people, enforce liberal contri- 
butions, and remain there until the bishop should come to terms.* 

The solid, compact army, with infantry, artillery, and cavalry 
in the best possible condition, advanced at the double-quick. 
Arriving at the gates of Maaseyk, not a moment was spent in 
parleying. " Open the gates instantly," was the summons, " or 
we shall open them with the petard." 

With great courtesy of words, but pitiless energy of action, 
General Borck, who was in command, fulfilled his commission. 
A contribution was exacted of fifteen thousand dollars, to be 
paid within three days ; sufficient rations were to be furnished 
daily for the troops, or the general, it was stated, would be un- 
der the painful necessity of collecting them for himself. Two 
hundred and fifty dollars a day were to be provided for the gen- 
eral's private expenses. Remonstrances were of no avail. Re- 
sistance was not to be thought of. 

* "As the bishops of Liege had been in possession of the contested districts for more than a 
century, and as Frederick William had not, any more than his predecessors, adopted any vigorous 
measures to gain possession of them, it is not probable that the claim of Frederick was very well 
founded. At all events, his conduct was violent and unjust. The inhabitants of these districts 
had been guilty of no crime but that of avowing their allegiance to the prince whom they had 
been accustomed to obey, and whom they appear to have considered as their lawful sovereign. 
When Frederick, therefore, sent his troops to live upon the inhabitants of those districts at dis- 
cretion, he committed an act of tyranny and of cruelty which nothing in the circumstances of 
the case could justify." — Memoirs of Voltaire, p. 44. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 209 

The poor old bishop called loudly upon the Emperor of Ger- 
many for help. The territory of the Bishop of Liege was under 
the protection of the empire. The Emperor Charles VI. im- 
mediately issued a decree ordering Frederick to withdraw his 
troops, to restore the money which he had extorted, and to set- 
tle the question by arbitration, or by an appeal to the laws of 
the empire. This w T as the last decree issued by Charles VI. 
Two weeks after he died. 

Frederick paid no regard to the remonstrance of the emperor. 
The bishop, in his distress, applied to the French for aid, and 
then to the Dutch, but all in vain. He then sent an embassy 
to Berlin, proposing to purchase Herstal. The king consented 
to sell upon the same terms his father had offered, adding to the 
sum the expenses of his military expedition and other little items, 
bringing the amount up to one hundred and eighty thousand 
dollars. The money was paid, and the Herstal difficulty was 
settled. This was Frederick's first act of foreign diplomacy. 
Many severely censured him for the violent course he pursued 
with a power incapable of resistance. All admitted the energy 
and sagacity which he had developed in the affair. 

Voltaire, in his Memoirs, says that he drew up the manifesto 
for Frederick upon this occasion. " The pretext," he writes, " for 
this fine expedition was certain rights which his majesty pre- 
tended to have over a part of the suburbs. It was to me he com- 
mitted the task of drawing up the manifesto, which I performed 
as well as the nature of the case would let me, never suspecting 
that a king, with whom I supped, and who called me his friend, 
could possibly be in the wrong. The affair was soon brought 
to a conclusion by the payment of a million of livres, which he 
exacted in good hard ducats, and which served to defray the ex- 
penses of his tour to Strasbourg, concerning which he complained 
so loudly in his poetic prose epistle. 

" I represented to him that perhaps it was not altogether pru- 
dent to print his Anti-Machiavel just at the time that the world 
might reproach him with having violated, the principles he 
taught. He permitted me to stop the impression. I accordingly 
took a journey into Holland purposely to do him this trifling 
service. But the bookseller demanded so much money that his 
majesty, who was not in the bottom of his heart vexed to see 

O 



210 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

himself in print, was better pleased to be so for nothing, than to 
pay for not being so. I could not avoid feeling some remorse at 
being concerned in printing this Anti-Macliiavelian book at the 
very moment that the King of Prussia, who had a hundred mil- 
lions in his coffers, was robbing the poor people of Liege of an- 
other, by the hand of the privy counselor Rambonet."* 

It must be borne in mind that these words were written after 
Voltaire had quarreled with Frederick, and when it seems to 
have been his desire to represent all the acts of the king in as 
unfavorable a light as possible. Frederick himself, about eight 
years after the settlement of the Herstal difficulty, gave the fol- 
lowing as his version of the affair : 

"A miserable Bishop of Liege thought it a proud thing to in- 
sult the late king. Some subjects of Herstal, which belongs to 
Prussia, had revolted. The bishop gave them his protection. 
Colonel Kreutzen was sent to Liege to compose the thing by 
treaty, with credentials and full power. Imagine it ; the bishop 
would not receive him ! Three days, day after day, he saw this 
envoy apply at his palace, and always denied him entrance. 
These things had grown past endurance." 

Frederick returned to Berlin by a circuitous route, which oc- 
cupied ten days. His uncle, King George II. of England, whom 
he exceedingly disliked, was then on a visit to his Hanoverian 
possessions. Frederick passed within a few miles of his Britan- 
nic majesty without deigning to call upon him. The slight 
caused much comment in the English papers. It was regarded 
as of national moment, for it implied that in the complicated 
policy which then agitated the courts of Europe the sympathies 
of Prussia would not be with England. 

Soon after this, Frederick's next younger brother, Augustus 
William, who was heir-presumptive to the throne in default of 
a son by Frederick, was betrothed to Louisa Amelia of Bruns- 
wick, younger sister of Frederick's bride. 

About the middle of October Wilhelmina came to Berlin to 
see her brothers again. Nine years had passed since her mar- 
riage, and seven since her last sad visit to the home of her child- 
hood, in which inauspicious visit the wretchedness of her early 
years had been renewed by the cruelty of her reception. In 

* Memoirs, p. 47, 48. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 211 

Wilhelmina' s journal we find the following allusion to this her 
second return to Berlin : 

" We arrived at Berlin the end of October. My younger broth- 
ers, followed by the princes of the blood and by all the court, 
received us at the bottom of the stairs. I was led to my apart- 
ment, where I found the reigning queen, my sisters, and the prin- 
cesses. I learned, with much chagrin, that the king was ill of 
tertian ague. He sent me word that, being in his fit, he could 
not see me, but that he depended on having that pleasure to- 
morrow. The queen -mother, to whom I went without delay, 
was in a dark condition. Her rooms were all hung in their lu- 
gubrious drapery. Every thing was as yet in the depth of 
mourning for my father. What a scene for me ! Nature has 
her rights. I can say with truth I have almost never in my life 
been so moved as on this occasion. My interview with my 
mother was very touching." 

The next morning Frederick hastened to greet his sister. Wil- 
helmina was not pleased with his appearance. The cares of his 
new reign entirely engrossed his mind. The dignity of an ab- 
solute king did not sit gracefully upon him. Though ostenta- 
tiously demonstrative in his greeting, the delicate instincts of 
Wilhelmina taught her that her brother's caresses were heart- 
less. He was just recovering from a fit of the ague, and looked 
emaciate and sallow. The court was in mourning. During 
those funereal days no festivities could be indulged in. The 
queen-mother was decorously melancholy; she seems to have 
been not only disappointed, but excessively chagrined, to find 
that she was excluded by her son from the slightest influence in 
public affairs. The distant, arrogant, and assuming airs of the 
young king soon rendered him unpopular. 

"A general discontent," writes Wilhelmina, "reigned in the 
country. The love of his subjects was pretty much gone. Peo- 
ple spoke of him in no measured terms. Some accused him of 
caring nothing about those who helped him as Prince Royal. 
Others complained of his avarice as surpassing that of the late 
king. He was accused of violence of temper, of a suspicious dis- 
position, of distrust, haughtiness, dissimulation. I would have 
spoken to him about these had not my brother Augustus Wil- 
liam and the queen regnant dissuaded me." . 



212 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Frederick invited his sister to visit him at Reinsberg, to which 
place either business or pleasure immediately called him. After 
the lapse of two days, Wilhelinina, with the neglected Queen 
Elizabeth, repaired to the enchanting chateau, hoping to find, 
amid its rural scenes, that enjoyment which she never yet had 
been able to find in the sombre halls of the Berlin palace. Here 
quite a gay company was assembled. Frederick was very labo- 
riously occupied during the day in affairs of state. But in the 
evening he appeared in the social circles, attracting the attention 
of all by his conversational brilliance, and by the apparent hearti- 
ness with which he entered into the amusements of the court. 
He took an active part in some private theatricals, and none 
were aware of the profound schemes of ambition which, cloaked 
by this external gayety, were engrossing his thoughts. 

On the 25th of October a courier arrived, direct from Vienna, 
with the startling intelligence that the Emperor Charles VI. had 
died five clays before. The king was at the time suffering from 
a severe attack of chills and fever. There was quite a long de- 
liberation in the court whether it were safe to communicate the 
agitating intelligence to his majesty while he was so sick. They 
delayed for an hour, and then cautiously informed the king of 
the great event. Frederick listened in silence; uttered not a 
word ; made no sign.* Subsequent events proved that his soul 
must have been agitated by the tidings to its profoundest depths. 
The death of the emperor, at that time, was unexpected. But it 
is pretty evident that Frederick had, in the sombre recesses of 
his mind, resolved upon a course of action when the emperor 
should die which he knew would be fraught with the most mo- 
mentous results. In fact, this action proved the occasion of wars 
and woes from which, could the king have foreseen them, he 
would doubtless have shrunk back appalled. 

The Emperor Charles VI. left no son. He therefore promul- 
gated a new law of succession in a decree known throughout 

* " His majesty," says M. Bielfeld, "did not appear to be greatly moved. But what fol- 
lowed convinces me that he possesses the art of composing his countenance, and, that the emo- 
tion passed within ; for he rose soon after, sent for M.Von Eichel, secretary of the cabinet, and 
commanded him to write to Marshal Schwerin and M.Von Podewils, Minister for Foreign Af- 
fairs, and order them to come immediately to Reinsberg. These gentlemen arrived forthwith.. 
They daily held long and very secret conferences with his majesty. They say that sovereigns 
have sometimes authority even over their infirmities. The fever has shown itself docile to the 
will of the monarch, for after two slight attacks it has entirely left him." — Letters, vol. iv., p. 18. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 213 

Europe as the " Pragmatic Sanction." By the custom of the 
realm the sceptre could descend only to male heirs. But by this 
decree the king declared that the crown of the house of Haps- 
burg should be transmitted to his daughter, Maria Theresa. 
This law had been ratified by the estates of all the kingdoms 
and principalities which composed the Austrian monarchy. All 
the leading powers of Europe — England, France, Spain, Prussia, 
Russia, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Germanic body — had 
bound themselves by treaty to maintain the "Pragmatic Sanc- 
tion." It was a peaceable and wise arrangement, acceptable to 
the people of Austria and to the dynasties of Europe as a means 
of averting a war of succession, w T hich might involve all the na- 
tions of the Continent in the conflict. 

The death-scene of the emperor was an event which must in- 
terest every reader. Upon his return from a hunting excursion 
into Hungary, he was attacked, on Thursday evening, October 
16th, by slight indisposition, which was supposed to have been 
caused by eating imprudently of mushrooms. His sickness, baf- 
fling the skill of the doctors, increased, and by Saturday night 
became alarming. On Tuesday it was thought that he was dy- 
ing. The pope's nuncio administered to him the sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper. His majesty manifested great composure in 
view of the sublime change before him, and said to one who was 
weeping at his bedside, 

" I am not afraid in contemplating the dread tribunal before 
which I must now so soon appear. I am certain of my cause. 
Look at me! A "man that is certain of his cause can enter on 
such a journey with good courage and a composed mind." 

To his physicians, who were doubtful respecting the nature 
of his disease, he said, " If Doctor Gazelli were here you would 
soon know what is my complaint. As it is, you will only learn 
after you have dissected me." 

He then requested to be shown the cup in which his heart 
would be placed after that operation. His daughter, Maria 
Theresa, who had married the Grand-duke Francis, was in a 
delicate state of health. The death of her father would place 
the weighty crown upon her youthful brow. Grief and agita- 
tion threw her helpless upon her bed. So important was her 
life to the world that the emperor was unwilling that, in her 



214 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

then condition, she should enter the death-chamber. " Tell my 
Theresa," said he, in faint and dying accents, " that I bless her, 
notwithstanding her absence." 

The empress had fainted away at the bedside, and had been 
borne, in the arms of the attendants, into her daughter Maria 
Theresa's chamber. She was now summoned, with the younger 
children, for the final adieu. As the empress, almost delirious 
with grief, re-entered the apartment, she threw herself upon the 
bed of her dying husband, and exclaimed, in frenzied tones, " Do 
not leave me ! Do not leave me !" 

During all the day of Wednesday weeping friends stood 
around the bed, as the lamp of life flickered in its socket. Ev- 
ery moment it was expected that the emperor would breathe his 
last. At two o'clock the next morning the spirit took its flight, 
and the lifeless clay alone remained. The grief- stricken empress 
closed the eyes of her departed husband, kissed his hands, and 
" was carried out more dead than alive." Thus ended the male 
line of the house of Hapsburg, after Hve centuries of royal sway. 
The emperor died on the 20th of October 1740, in the fifty-sixth 
year of his age. 

As Frederick received the tidings of this death, he rose, dress- 
ed himself, and his ague disappeared, to return no more. A 
courier was immediately dispatched, at the top of his speed, to 
summon to his presence General Schwerin and M. Podewils, his 
chief minister. Two days must elapse before they could reach 
him. In the mean time, the king, taking counsel of no one, was 
maturing his plans, and making quiet but vigorous preparations 
for their execution. He wrote the next day to Voltaire, in allu- 
sion to the emperor's death, 

" I believe that there will, by June next, be more talk' of can- 
non, soldiers, trenches, than of actresses and dancers for the bal- 
let. This small event changes the entire system of Europe. It 
is the little stone which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, loos- 
ening itself and rolling down on the image made of four metals, 
which it shivers to ruin." 

On the southeast frontier of Prussia, between that kingdom, 
and Poland, and Hungary, there was an Austrian realm called 
Silesia. The country embraced a territory of twenty thousand 
square miles, being about twice as large as the State of Vermont. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



215 




THE DEATH-SCENE OF THE EMPEROR. 



The population was about two millions. For more than a cen- 
tury Silesia had been a portion of the Austrian kingdom. Time, 
and the assent of Europe, had sanctioned the title. 

But the young King Frederick was very ambitious of enlarg- 
ing the borders of his Liliputian realm, and of thus attaining a 
higher position among the proud and powerful monarchs who 
surrounded him. Maria Theresa, who had inherited the ci;own 
of Austria, was a remarkably beautiful, graceful, and accomplish- 



216 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ed young lady, in the twenty-fourth year of her age. She was 
a young wife, having married Francis, Duke of Lorraine. Her 
health, as we have mentioned, was at that time delicate. Fred- 
erick thought the opportunity a favorable one for wresting Sile- 
sia from Austria, and annexing it to his own kingdom. The 
queen was entirely inexperienced, and could not prove a very 
formidable military antagonist. Her army was in no respect, 
either in number, discipline, or materiel, prepared for war. Her 
treasury was deplorably empty. There was also reason for 
Frederick to hope that several claimants would rise in opposi- 
tion to her, disputing the succession. 

On the other hand, Frederick himself was in the very prime 
of manhood. He was ambitious of military renown. He had 
a compact army of one hundred thousand men, in better drill 
and more amply provided with all the apparatus of war than 
any other troops in Europe. The frugality of his father had 
left him with a treasury full to overflowing. To take military 
possession of Silesia would be a very easy thing. There was 
nothing to obstruct the rush of his troops across the frontiers. 
There were no strongly garrisoned fortresses, and not above 
three thousand soldiers in the whole realm. No one even sus- 
pected that Frederick would lay any claim to the territory, or 
that there was the slightest danger of invasion. The compli- 
cated claim which he finally presented, in official manifestoes, 
was founded upon transactions which had taken place a hun- 
dred years before. In conversation with his friends he did not 
lay much stress upon any legitimate title he had to the territo- 
ry. He frankly admitted, to quote his own words, that u ambi- 
tion, interest, the desire of making people talk about me, carried 
the day, and I decided for war.""* 

The general voice of history has severely condemned the 
Prussian king for this invasion of Silesia. Frederick probably 

* Macaulay, speaking of the claims of Frederick to Silesia, says : " They amount to this, that 
the house of Brandenburg had some ancient pretensions to Silesia, and had, in the previous cen- 
tury, been compelled, by hard usage on the part of the court of Vienna, to waive those preten- 
sions. It is certain that, whoever might have been originally in the right, Prussia had submit- 
ted. Prince after prince of the house of Brandenburg had acquiesced in the existing arrange- 
ment. Nay, the court of Berlin had recently been allied with that of Vienna, and had guaran- 
teed the integrity of the Austrian states. Is it not perfectly clear that, if antiquated claims are 
to be set up against recent treaties and long possession, the world can never be at peace for a 
day?" — Life of Frederick the Great, by Macaulay, p. 62. 



EEEDEEICK THE GEEAT. 



217 




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SWBEWERG pBAUMEAIITEr 




MAP OF SILESIA. 



owed his life to the interposition of the father of Maria Theresa, 
when the young prince was threatened with the scaffold by his 
own father. Prussia was bound by the most solemn guarantees 
to respect the integrity of the Austrian states. There was seem- 
ingly a great want of magnanimity in taking advantage of the 
extreme youth, inexperience, and delicate health of the young 
queen, who was also embarrassed by an empty treasury and a 
weakened and undisciplined army. Frederick had also made, 
in his Anti-Machiavel, loud protestations of his love of justice 
and magnanimity. Mr. Carlyle, while honestly stating these 
facts, still does not blame Frederick for seizing the opportunity 
which the death of the emperor presented for him to enlarge his 
dominions by plundering the domain of Maria Theresa. 

" It is almost touching," Mr. Carlyle writes, " to reflect how 
unexpectedly, like a bolt out of the blue, all this had come upon 
Frederick, and how it overset his fine programme for the winter 
at Rein sb erg, and for his life generally. Not the Peaceable 
magnanimities, but the Warlike, are the thing appointed Fred- 
erick this winter, and mainly henceforth. Those ' golden or soft 
radiances' which we saw in him, admirable to Voltaire and to 
Frederick, and to an esurient philanthropic world, it is not 



218 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

those, it is the ' steel bright or stellar kind' that are to become 
predominant in Frederick's existence ; grim hail-storms, thunders, 
and tornado for an existence to him instead of the opulent geni- 
alities and halcyon weather anticipated by himself and others. 

" Indisputably enough to us, if not yet to Frederick, ' Reins- 
berg and Life to the Muses' are done. On a sudden, from the 
opposite side of the horizon, see miraculous Opportunity rushing 
hitherward ; swift, terrible, clothed with lightning like a courser 
of the gods ; dare you clutch him by the thunder-mane, and fling 
yourself upon him, and make for the Empyrean by that course 
rather ? Be immediate about it, then; the time is now or never ! 
No fair judge can blame the young man that he laid hold of the 
flaming Opportunity in this manner, and obeyed the new omen. 
To seize such an Opportunity and perilously mount upon it was 
the part of a young, magnanimous king, less sensible to the per- 
ils and more to the other considerations than one older would 
have been."* 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE INVASION OF SILESIA. 



Deceptive Measures of Frederick. — Plans for the Invasion of Silesia. — Avowed Reasons for the 
Invasion. — The Ball in Berlin. — The March of the Army. — Hardships and Successes. — Let- 
ter to Voltaire. — Capture of Glogau. — Capture of Brieg. — Bombardment of Neisse. 

With the utmost secrecy Frederick matured his plans. It 
could not be concealed that he was about to embark in some 
important military enterprise. The embassadors from other 
courts exerted all their ingenuity, but in vain, to ascertain in 
what direction the army was to march. Though the Freneh had 
an embassador at Berlin, still it would seem that Voltaire was 
sent as a spy, under the guise of friendship, to attempt to ferret 
out the designs of the king. These men, who did not profess 
any regard to the principles of religion, seem also to have tram- 

* The King of Prussia, the Anti-Machiavel, had already fully determined to commit the great 
crime of violating his plighted faith, of robbing the ally whom he was bound to defend, and of 
plunging all Europe into a long, bloody, and desolating war, and all this for no other end what- 
ever except that he might extend his dominions and see his name in the gazettes. He deter- 
mined to assemble a great army with speed and secrecy to invade Silesia before Maria Theresa 
should be apprised of his design, and to add that rich province to his kingdom." — Life of Fred- 
erick the Great, by Macaulay, p. 61. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 219 

pled under feet all the instincts of honor. Voltaire endeavored 
to conceal his treachery beneath smiles and flattery, writing even 
love verses to the king. The king kept his own secret. Vol- 
taire was not a little chagrined by his want of success. In his 
billet of leave he wrote : 

"Non, malgre tos rertus, non malgre vos appas, 
Mon ame n'est point satisfaite : 
Non, vous n'etes qu'une coquette, 
Qui subjuguez les cceurs, et ne vous donnez pas."* 

Frederick, while equally complimentary, while lavishing gifts 
and smiles upon his guest, to whom he had written that as there 
" could be but one God, so there could be but one Voltaire," 
wrote from Ruppin to M. Jordan, on the 28th of November, just 
before Voltaire took his leave, 

" Thy miser" (Voltaire) " shall drink to the lees of his insa- 
tiable desire to enrich himself. He shall have the three thou- 
sand thalers [$2250]. He was with me six days. That will 
be at the rate of five hundred thalers [$375] a day. That is 
paying dearly for a fool. Never had court fool such wages be- 
fore." 

The Austrian envoy expressed to his court a suspicion that 
Silesia might be threatened. The reply which came back was 
that the Austrian court would not, and could not, believe that 
a prince who was under such obligations to the father of Maria 
Theresa, and who had made such loud professions of integrity 
and philanthropy, could be guilty of such an outrage. 

Frederick did what he could to divert the attention of the 
court at Reinsberg by multiplying gayeties of every kind. There 
was feasting, and music, and dancing, and theatric exhibitions, 
often continuing until four o'clock in the morning. In the mean 
time couriers were coming and going. Troops were moving. 
Provisions and the materiel of war were accumulating. Anx- 
ious embassadors watched every movement of the king's hand, 
weighed every word which escaped his lips, and tried every 
adroit measure to elicit from him his secret. The Danish min- 
ister, Pratorius, wrote to his court from Berlin : 

* No, notwithstanding your A-irtues, notwithstanding your attractions, 

My soul is not satisfied. 
No, you are but a coquette ; 
You subjugate the hearts of others, and do not give your own. 



220 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" From all persons who return from Reinsberg the unanimous 
report is that the king works the whole day through with an 
assiduity which is unique, and then, in the evening, gives him- 
self to the pleasures of society with a vivacity of mirth and 
sprightly humor, which makes those evening parties charming." 

The Marquis of Botta, the Austrian envoy, endeavoring to pen- 
etrate the plans of Frederick, descanted upon the horrible con- 
dition of the roads in Silesia, which province he had traversed 
in coming to Berlin. The king listened with a quiet smile, and 
then, with much apparent indifference, replied, 

" The worst which can happen to those who wish to travel in 
Silesia is to get spattered with the mud." 

The English envoy, Sir Gruy Dickens, being utterly baffled in 
all his endeavors to discover the enterprise upon which the king 
was about to embark, wrote to his court : 

" Nobody here, great or small, dares make any representation 
to this young prince against the measures he is pursuing, though 
all are sensible of the confusion which must follow. A prince 
who had the least regard to honor, truth, and justice, could not 
act the part he is going to do. But it is plain his only view is 
to deceive us all, and conceal for a while his ambitious and mis- 
chievous designs." 

Dickens at length ventured to ask the king directly, " What 
shall I write to England V 

Frederick angrily replied, " You can have no instructions to 
ask that question. And if you had, I have an answer ready for 
you. England has no right to inquire into my designs. Your 
great sea armaments, did I ask you any question about them ? 
No ! I was, and am, silent on that head."* 

* In this wicked Avorld power seldom respects weakness. No sooner was the emperor dead 
than four claimants sprang up to wrest from Maria Theresa a part or the whole of the kingdoms 
she had inherited from her father ; and this, notwithstanding nearly all the powers of Europe 
had guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction. The Elector of Bavaria claimed Bohemia, from an 
article in the will of the Emperor Ferdinand I. , made two centuries before. The King of Po- 
land demanded the whole Austrian succession, in virtue of the right of his wife, who was the 
eldest daughter of the Emperor Joseph, elder brother of Charles VI. The King of Spain 
claimed all the Austrian possessions, in consequence of his descent from the wife of Philip II., 
who was daughter of the Emperor Maximilian. The King of Sardinia hunted up an obsolete 
claim to the duchy of Milan. But for the embarrassment into which these claims plunged Ma- 
ria Theresa, Frederick would hardly have ventured to invade the province of Silesia. The woes 
which, in consequence, desolated the nations of Europe, no mind but that of the omniscient God 
can gauge. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 221 

By the 10th of December, within a fortnight of the time that 
the king received the tidings of the death of the emperor, he had 
collected such a force on the frontiers of Silesia that there could 
be no question that the invasion of that province was intended. 
As not the slightest preparation had been made on the part of 
Austria to meet such an event, the king could with perfect ease 
overrun the province and seize all its fortresses. But Austria 
was, in territory, resources, and military power, vastly stronger 
than Prussia. It was therefore scarcely possible that Frederick 
could hold the province, after he had seized it, unless he could 
encourage others to dispute the succession of Maria Theresa, and 
thus involve Europe in a general war. Frederick, having made 
all his arrangements for prompt and vigorous action, sent to 
Maria Theresa a message which could be regarded only as an 
insult : 

" Surrender to me peaceably," was the substance of this de- 
mand, " the province of Silesia, and I will be the ally of your maj- 
esty in maintaining your right to the throne, and in defending 
the integrity of all the rest of your realms. I will exert my in- 
fluence to have the Grand -duke Francis* chosen Emperor of 
Germany, and will also immediately pay one million of dollars 
into the Austrian treasury." 

An embassador, Count De Gotter, was sent to Vienna to pre- 
sent this demand to Maria Theresa. He wa£ authorized, in case 
these terms were not accepted, to declare war. But in the mean 
time, before the count could possibly reach Vienna, consequently 
before there was any declaration of war, or even any demand 
presented, Frederick, at the head of his troops, had entered Sile- 
sia, and was seizing its defenseless fortresses, f 

As the king was about to embark upon this enterprise, it was 
proposed to place upon the banners the words "For God and our 
Country." But Frederick struck out the words " For God," say- 
ing that it was improper to introduce the name of the Deity into 
the quarrels of men, and that he was embarking in war to gain 
a province, not for religion. J In a brief speech to his soldiers 
he said, 

" Gentlemen, I do not look upon you as my subjects, but as 
my friends. The troops of Brandenburg have always signalized 

* The husband of Maria Theresa. t Voltaire's Age of Louis XV., vol. i., p. 54. t Id. 



222 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

themselves by their courage, and given, on different occasions, 
the fullest evidences of their bravery. I shall be an eye-witness 
to all your exploits. You will always fight in my presence. I 
will recompense those who shall distinguish themselves for their 
zeal in my service rather as a father than as a sovereign." 

In reference to this campaign the king subsequently wrote: 
" At the death of the emperor there were but two Austrian reg- 
iments in Silesia. Being determined to assert my right to that 
duchy, I was obliged to make war during the winter, that I might 
make the banks of the Neisse the scene of action. Had I waited 
till the spring, what we gained by one single march would cer- 
tainly have cost us three or four difficult campaigns."* 

To the summons which Frederick sent to Maria Theresa, de- 
manding the surrender of Silesia, no response could be returned, 
consistent with the dignity of the crown, but a peremptory re- 
fusal. The reply was unanswerable in its logic. Though it 
was, in general, couched in courteous terms, one sentence crept 
into it of rather scornful defiance. 

" It seems strange," said the Austrian minister of war, " that 
his Prussian majesty, whose official post in Germany, as cham- 
berlain of the emperor, is to present the basin and towel to the 
house of Austria, should now presume to prescribe rules to it." 

On Tuesday night, the 12th of December, 1740, there was a 
very splendid masked ball in Berlin. The king and queen were 
both present. The mind of the king was evidently preoccupied, 
though he endeavored to assume an air of gayety. Privately 
quitting the ball at a late hour, he set out, early in the morning, 
to place himself at the head of forty thousand troops whom he 
had assembled near the Silesian frontier. A small escort only 
accompanied him. It was a cold winter's day. Driving rapid- 
ly, they reached Frankfort that night, sixty miles distant. In 
the dawn of the next day the king was again upon the road, 
and, after a drive of forty miles, reached Crossen, a border town, 
where he established his head-quarters. 

Two Silesian barons called upon him, and presented, a protest 
from the authorities they represented against his meditated in- 
vasion, the design of which was now manifest to all. The king 
received them very courteously, tossed the protest to a secretary 

* Military Instructions, p. 171. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 223 

to file away or to cast into the waste-paper basket, and invited 
the two gentlemen to dine with him. 

The next day the Prussian army, in two divisions, occupying 
a space about ten miles long and ten broad in the lines of march, 
crossed the frontiers, and entered the Silesian territory.* Fred- 
erick issued a proclamation declaring that he had come as a 
friend ; that no one would be molested in person, property, or 
religious privileges; and that every thing used by the army 
would be amply paid for. 

In very rapid march, the troops advanced through Griinberg 
toward Glogau, about forty miles in the interior. Here there 
was a fortified town, which was considered the key of Northern 
Silesia. It was but feebly garrisoned, and was entirely unpre- 
pared for resistance. By great exertions, the Austrian governor 
of the province, Count Wallis, and his second in command, Gen- 
eral Browne, succeeded in placing behind the works a little gar- 
rison of one thousand men. The whole population was sum- 
moned to work upon the ramparts. Count Wallis remained in 
Glogau. General Browne took command of the troops and gar- 
risons abroad. But there was a division of sentiment within 
the walls. Quite a large portion of the population was Protest- 
ant, and would be glad to come under the protection of Protest- 
ant Prussia. The Catholics were zealous for the continued reign 
of Austria. 

The Prussian troops, meeting with no opposition, spread over 
the country, and a strong division reached Weichau on Saturday, 
the 17th. There they spent Sunday in rest. Frederick was 
anxious to win to his cause the Protestant population. He con- 
sequently favored their religious institutions, and ordered that 
Protestant worship should be held in the villages which he oc- 
cupied, and where there was no Protestant church edifice, one 
part of the day in the Catholic churches. This plan he contin- 
ued through the campaign, much to the gratification of the chap- 
lains of his regiments and the Protestant community in Silesia. 
Though the Austrian government had not been particularly op- 
pressive to the Protestants, still it leaned decidedly against what 

* The army with which Frederick invaded Silesia consisted of a general force of 28,000 men, 
which was followed hy a rear-guard of 12,000. He had, in all, about 12,000 cavalry. The re- 
mainder were foot soldiers. The artillery consisted of 20 three-pounders, 4 twelve-pounders, 4 
howitzers, and 4 large mortars of fifty-pounds calibre. His artillerymen numbered 166. 



224 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE MARCH INTO SILESIA. 



it deemed heresy. The Jesuits, favored by the governmental of- 
ficials, were unwearied in their endeavors to promote the inter- 
ests of their Church. Frederick, by allowing the impression to 
be spread abroad that he was the champion of Protestantism, 
was enabled to secure the sympathies of quite a strong party in 
Silesia in his favor. It is said that two thirds of the inhabitants 
of Silesia were Protestants, and therefore favorable to Frederick. 

In the suburbs of Glogau there was a Protestant church which 
Count Wallis deemed it a military necessity to order to be burn- 
ed down, lest it should protect the Prussians in their attack. 
" The Prussians," said Wallis, " will make a block-houser of it." 
The Protestants pleaded earnestly for a brief respite, and sent a 
delegation to Frederick to intercede for the safety of their church. 
The king very courteously, and with shrewd policy, replied, 

" You are the first who have asked any favor of me on Sile- 
sian ground. Your request shall be granted." 

Immediately he sent a polite note to Count Wallis, assuring 
him that the attack, if attack were necessary, should be made on 
the other side of the city, so that no military advantage could 
be taken of the church. This popular act resounded widely not 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 225 

only through the Protestant community of Silesia, but through- 
out Europe. 

Monday morning, December 19th, the army was again on the 
move, now spread out into a length of nearly fifteen miles, and 
even more than that in breadth. Concentration was unnecessa- 
ry, as there was no foe to be encountered. The occupation of 
this wide area enabled Frederick to take advantage of good 
roads, and also to obtain abundance of supplies. Their advance 
led them in a southerly direction, up the western banks of the 
Oder, which stream here runs nearly north. 

It seems to be ever the doom of an army to encounter mud 
and rain. It was cold, gloomy, December weather. The troops 
were drenched and chilled by the floods continually falling from 
the clouds. The advance of the army was over a flat country 
where the water stood in pools. All day long, Monday and 
Tuesday, the rain continued to fall without intermission. But 
the Prussian army, under its impetuous leader, paid no regard to 
the antagonistic elements. 

"Waters all out, bridges down," writes Carlyle; "the country 
one wide lake of eddying mud ; up to the knee for many miles 
together ; up to the middle for long spaces ; sometimes even to 
the chin or deeper, where your bridge was washed away. The 
Prussians marched through it as if they had been slate or iron. 
Kank and file — nobody quitted his rank, nobody looked sour in 
the face — they took the pouring of the skies and the red seas of 
terrestrial liquid as matters that must be ; cheered one another 
with jocosities, with choral snatches, and swashed unweariedly 
forward. Ten hours some of them were out, their march bein^ 
twenty or twenty-five miles." 

They reached Milkau Tuesday night, the 20th. Here they 
were allowed one day of rest, and Frederick gave each soldier a 
gratuity of about fifteen cents. On Thursday the march was re- 
sumed, and the advance-guard of the army was rapidly gathered 
around Grlogau, behind whose walls Count Wallis had posted 
his intrepid little garrison of a thousand men. Here Frederick 
encountered his first opposition. The works were found too 
strong to be carried by immediate assault, and Frederick had 
not yet brought forward his siege cannon. The following ex- 
tracts from the correspondence which Frederick carried on at 

P 



226 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

this time develop the state of public sentiment, and the views 
and character of the king. His friend Jordan, who had been 
left in Berlin, wrote to him as follows, under date of December 
14, 1740, the day after the king left to place himself at the head 
of his army : 

" Every body here is on tiptoe for the event, of which both 
origin and end are a riddle to most. Those who, in the style 
of theologians, consider themselves entitled to be certain, main- 
tain that your majesty is expected with religious impatience by 
the Protestants ; and that the Catholics hope to see themselves 
delivered from a multitude of imposts, which cruelly tear up the 
beautiful bosom of their Church. You can not but succeed in 
your valiant and stoical enterprise, since both religion and world- 
ly interest rank themselves under your flag. Wallis, they say, 
has punished a Silesian heretic, of enthusiastic turn, as blasphem- 
er, for announcing that a new Messiah is just coming. I have a 
taste for that kind of martyrdom. Critical persons consider the 
present step as directly opposed to certain maxims in the Anti- 
MacMavel." 

Again M. Jordan wrote, a week later, on the 20th of Decem- 
ber: 

"The day before yesterday, in all churches, was prayer to 
Heaven for success to your majesty's arms, interest of the Prot- 
estant religion being one cause of the war, or the only one as- 
signed by the reverend gentleman. At the sound of these words 
the zeal of the people kindles. - Bless God for raising such a 
defender ! Who dared suspect our king's indifference to Prot- 
estantism V " 

On the 19th of December the king wrote, from the vicinity of 
Grlogau, to M. Jordan. Perhaps he would not so frankly have 
revealed his ambition and his want of principle had he supposed 
that the private letter would be exposed to the perusal of the 
whole civilized w r orld. 

" Seigneur Jordan," the king writes, " thy letter has given me 
a great deal of pleasure in regard to all these talkings thou re- 
portest. To-morrow I arrive at our last station this side of Glo- 
gau, which place I hope to get in a few days. All things favor 
my designs ; and I hope to return to Berlin, after executing them, 
gloriously, and in a way to be content with. Let the ignorant 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 227 

and the envious talk. It is not they who shall ever serve as 
load-star to my designs ; not they, but glory. With the love 
of that I am penetrated more than ever. My troops have their 
hearts big with it, and I answer to thee for success. Adieu ! 
dear Jordan. Write me all the ill the public says of thy friend, 
and be persuaded that I love and will esteem thee always." 

To Voltaire the king wrote, in a very similar strain, four days 
later, on the 23d of December: 

" My dear Voltaire, — I have received two of your letters, 
but could not answer sooner. I am like Charles Twelfth's chess 
king, who was always on the move. For a fortnight past we 
have been kept continually afoot and under way in such weath- 
er as you never saw. 

" I am too tired to reply to your delightful verses, and shiver- 
ing too much with cold to taste all the charm of them. But 
that will come round again. Do not ask poetry from a man 
who is actually doing the work of a wagoner, and sometimes 
even of a wagoner stuck in the mud. Would you like to know 
my way of life ? We march from seven in the morning till four 
in the afternoon. I dine then ; afterward I work — I receive tire- 
some visits; with these comes a detail of insipid matters of bus- 
iness. 'Tis wrong-headed men, punctiliously difficult, who are to 
be set right ; heads too hot which must be restrained, idle fel- 
lows that must be urged, impatient men that must be rendered 
docile, plunderers to be restrained within the bounds of equity, 
babblers to hear babbling, dumb people to keep in talk ; in fine, 
one has to drink .with those that like it, to eat with those who 
are hungry ; one has to become a Jew with Jews, a pagan with 
pagans. Such are my occupations, which I would willingly 
make over to another if the phantom they call glory did not rise 
on me too often. In truth, it is a great folly, but a folly difficult 
to cast away when once you are smitten by it. 

" Adieu, my dear Voltaire ! May Heaven preserve from mis- 
fortune the man I should so like to sup with at night after fight- 
ing in the morning. Do not forget the absent who love you. 

" Frederick." 

As we have mentioned, the army advanced mainly in two col- 



228 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

unms. While the left was briefly delayed at Glogau, the right, 
under the command of General Schwerin, was pushed rapidly 
forward a few leagues, to Liegnitz. They reached the city, un- 
expectedly to its inhabitants, just at the dawn of a drear, chill 
winter's morning, the rain having changed to freezing cold. It 
was Wednesday, December 28. The Prussian grenadiers stole 
softly .upon the slumbering sentinels, seized them, and locked 
them in the guard-house. Then the whole column marched into 
the heart of the city silently, without music, but with a tramp 
which aroused all the sleepers in the streets through which they 
passed — many of whom, in their night-caps, peered curiously out 
of their chamber windows. Having reached the central square, 
or market-place, the forces were concentrated, and the drums and 
bugles pealed forth notes of triumph. The Prussian flag rose 
promptly from rampart and tower. Liegnitz was essentially a 
Protestant town. The inhabitants, who had received but few 
favors from the Catholic Austrian government, welcomed their 
invaders with cautious demonstrations of joy. 

Frederick, having completed the investment of Glogau, cutting 
off all its supplies, left a sufficient detachment there to starve the 
city into submission. There were about seven thousand inhab- 
itants within the walls — " a much-enduring, frugal, pious, and 
very desirable people." As it was probable that the feeble gar- 
rison, after a brief show of resistance, would surrender, Frederick 
hastened in person, with all his remaining available troops, to- 
ward Breslau, the capital of Silesia. On the 27th he wrote to 
M. Jordan : 

" I march to-morrow for Breslau, and shall be there in four 
days. You Berliners have a spirit of prophecy which goes be- 
yond me. In fine, I go my road ; and you will shortly see Sile- 
sia ranked in the list of our provinces. Adieu ! this is all I have 
time to tell you. Keligion and our brave soldiers will do the 
rest." 

With almost unprecedented rapidity Frederick pressed his 
troops along, accomplishing " in three marches near upon seventy 
miles." The course of the Oder here is, in its general direction, 
northwest. The army marched along its southwestern banks. 
On Saturday evening, the last day of the year, the advance-guard 
took possession of the southern and western suburbs of Breslau. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 229 

The city, of one hundred thousand inhabitants, was spread out 
over both banks of the stream. Frederick established his head- 
quarters at the palace of Pilsnitz, about five miles from the city. 
There were many Protestants in Breslau, who rejoiced in the 
idea of exchanging a Catholic for a Protestant government. It 
is said that some of the sentinels on the walls would watch their 
opportunity and present arms to the Prussian soldiers, and even 
at times exclaim, " Welcome, dear sirs !" 

Before sunrise Sunday morning the Prussians had seized upon 
many important posts. About seven o'clock a flag of truce, or 
rather a trumpeter, ajDproached one of the gates, demanding ad- 
mittance to communicate to the chief magistrate of the city the 
intentions and requisitions of the Prussian king. After some 
delay, two colonels were admitted. They demanded the entire 
surrender of the city, and that the authority of Frederick, the 
Kins; of Prussia, should be recognized instead of that of Maria 
Theresa, Queen of Austria. All their local laws and customs 
were to be respected, and they were to be protected in all their 
rights and privileges. Their own garrison should guard the 
city. No Prussian soldier should enter the gates with other than 
side-arms. The king himself, in taking possession of the city, 
should be accompanied by a.bocly-guarcl of but thirty men. The 
city council was assembled to consider this summons, and thirty 
hours were spent in anxious deliberation. 

In the mean time Frederick took positions which commanded 
the three gates on his, the southern, side of the river; construct- 
ed abridge of boats; and sent four hundred men across the 
stream, and made preparations to force an entrance. At four 
o'clock in the afternoon of Monday, not a gun having yet been 
fired, a messenger brought the intelligence that the town would 
be surrendered. At eight o'clock the next morning, Tuesday, 
3d of January, 1741, the city authorities came in their coaches, 
with much parade, to welcome their new sovereign. It was a 
bitter cold morning. The king had ridden away to reconnoitre 
the walls in their whole circuit. It was not until near noon that 
he was prepared to accompany the officials to the palace which 
was made ready for him. He then, on horseback, attended by 
his principal officers, and followed by an imposing retinue, in a 
grand entrance, proudly took possession of his easy conquest. 



230 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

He rode a very magnificent gray charger, and wore his usual 
cocked hat and a blue cloak, both of which were somewhat the 
worse for wear. Four footmen, gorgeously dressed in scarlet, 
trimmed with silver lace, walked by the side of his horse. The 
streets through which he passed were thronged, and the win- 
dows and balconies were crowded with spectators of both sexes. 
Though Frederick did not meet with an enthusiastic reception, 
he was very gracious, bowing to the people on each side of the 
street, and saluting with much courtesy those who seemed to be 
people of note. 

On the evening of the 5th his Prussian majesty gave a grand 
ball. All the nobility, high and low, were invited. The provi- 
dent king arranged that the expenses, which he was to defray, 
should not exceed half a guinea for each guest. Early hours 
were fashionable in those days. Frederick entered the assem- 
bly-rooms at six o'clock, and opened the ball with a Silesian lady. 
He was very complaisant, and walked through the rooms with a 
smile upon his countenance, conversing freely with the most dis- 
tinguished of his guests. About ten o'clock he silently with- 
drew, but the dancing and feasting continued until a late hour. 

The king exerted all his powers of fascination to gain the af- 
fections of the people. Though he dismissed all the Austrian 
public fuuctionaries, and supplied their places by his own friends, 
he continued to the Catholics their ancient privileges, and paid 
marked attention to the bishop and his clergy. At the same 
time, he encouraged the Protestants with the expectation that 
he would prove their especial friend. At the assemblies which 
he gave each evening that he was in the city, he lavished his 
smiles upon the ladies who were distinguished either for exalt- 
ed rank or for beauty. But there is no evidence that, 'during 
this campaign, he wrote one line to his absent, neglected wife, or 
that he expended one thought upon her. 

About thirty miles southeast of Breslau is the -pleasant little 
town of Ohlau, situated in the delta formed by the junction of 
the Ohlau River with the Oder. It was a place of some strength, 
and the Austrian authorities had thrown into it a garrison of 
three hundred men. Frederick appeared before its gates on the 
morning of January the 9th. He immediately sent in the fol- 
lowing summons to the garrison : 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 231 

" If you make any resistance, you shall be treated as prisoners 
of war. If you make no resistance, and promise not to serve 
against us, you may march out of the city unmolested, with your 
arms." 

The surrender was made. Fifteen miles nearly east from 
Ohlau, on the southern banks of the Oder, is the little town of 
Brieg. Frederick approached it with divisions of his army on 
both sides of the river. The country was flat and densely wood- 
ed. On the southern side, where Frederick marched with the 
major part of his troops, it was traversed by an admirably paved 
road. This was constructed one hundred and fifty-six years be- 
fore by one of the dukes of that realm. It was a broad high- 
way, paved with massive flat stones, climbing the mountains, 
threading the valleys, traversing the plains — a road such as those 
which the Romans constructed, and over which the legions of 
the Caesars tramped in their tireless conquests. This duke, in 
consequence of his religious character, was called " George the 
Pious." His devotional spirit may be inferred from the follow- 
ing inscription, in Latin, which he had engraved on a very massive 
monument, constructed in commemoration of the achievement : 

• "Others have made roads for us. We make them for posterity. 
But Christ has opened for us all a road to heaven."* 

On the 11th, Brieg was summoned to surrender. The prompt 
and resolute response was "No." The place was found unex- 
pectedly strong, and a gallant little garrison of sixteen hundred 
men had been assembled behind its walls. Frederick was much 
annoyed by the delay thus occasioned. He promptly invested 
the city so as to cut off all supplies, and dispatched an order to 
Glogau to have the field artillery sent, as speedily as possible, 
up the Oder to Brieg. 

Two days before Frederick reached Brieg, a column of his 
army, under General Schwerin, which had advanced by a line 
parallel to the Oder, but several miles to the west, encounter- 
ing no opposition, reached Ottmachau, a considerable town with 
a strong castle on the River Neisse. This was near the extreme 
southern border of Silesia. The Austrian commander, General 
Browne, had placed here also a garrison of sixteen hundred men, 

* Stravernnt alii nobis, nos posteritati : 
Omnibus at Christus stravit ad astra viam. 



232 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

with orders not to yield upon any terms, for that re-enforcements 
should be speedily sent to them. A slight conflict ensued. 
Twelve of the Prussians were killed. This was the first blood 
which was shed. A delay of three days took place, when four 
cannon were brought up, and the gates, both of the town and of 
the castle, were blown open. The garrison offered to withdraw 
upon the terms proposed in the summons to surrender. The 
king was sent for to obtain his decision. He rebuked the gar- 
rison sternly, and held all as prisoners of war. The officers were 
sent to Ctistrin, the common soldiers to Berlin. 

Preparations were now made for the capture of Neisse. This 
was an opulent, attractive, well - fortified town of about seven 
thousand inhabitants. It then occupied only the left or north 
bank of the stream, which runs from the west to the east. The 
region around, being highly cultivated, presented a beautiful as- 
pect of rich meadows, orchards, and vineyards. It was the chief 
fortress of Southern Silesia, and, being very near the frontier of 
Austria proper, was a position of great importance. Frederick, 
having encountered so little opposition thus far, was highly 
elated, expecting that Neisse would also immediately fall into 
his hands. From Ottmachau he wrote, on the 14th of January, 
to M. Jordan as follows : 

"My dear Monsieur Jordan, my sweet Monsieur Jordan, my 
quiet Monsieur Jordan, my good, my benign, my pacific, my most 
humane Monsieur Jordan, — I announce to thy serenity the con- 
quest of Silesia. I warn thee of the bombardment of Neisse, and 
I prepare thee for still more projects, and instruct thee of the 
happiest successes that the womb of fortune ever bore."* 

Three, days after, on the 17th, the king wrote again to M.Jor- 
dan : 

" I have the honor to inform your humanity that we are Chris- 
tianly preparing to bombard Neisse ; and that, if the place will 
not surrender of good- will, needs must that it be beaten to pow- 
der. For the rest, our affairs go the best in the world ; and soon 

* Charles Etienne Jordan was thirty-six years of age. He was the son of wealthy parents 
in Berlin, and had been a preaeher. The death of a beloved wife, leaving him with an only 
daughter, had plunged him into the profoundest melancholy. Frederick, when Crown Prince, 
took a great fancy to him, making him nominally his reader, giving him charge of his library. 
He is represented as a man of small figure, genial, and affectionate, of remarkable vivacity, very 
courteous, and one who was ever careful never, by word or action, to give pain to others. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 233 

thou wilt hear nothing more of us, for in ten days it will all be 
over, and I shall have the pleasure of seeing you and hearing 
you in about a fortnight. 

"I have seen neither my brother* nor Keyserling.f I left 
them at Breslau, not to expose them to the dangers of war. They 
perhaps will be a little angry, but what can I do % the rather as, 
on this occasion, one can not share in the glory unless one is a 
mortar ! 

"Adieu ; go and amuse yourself with Horace, study Pausanias, 
and be gay over Anacreon. As to me, who for amusement have 
nothing but merlons, fascines, and gabions, I pray God to grant 
me soon a pleasanter and peacefuler occupation, and you health, 
satisfaction, and whatever your heart desires." 

A letter of the same date as the above, addressed to Count 
Algarotti,$ contains the following expressions : 

" I have begun to settle the figure of Prussia. The outline 
will be altogether regular; for the whole of Silesia is taken in 
except one miserable hamlet, which perhaps I shall have to keep 
blockaded until next spring. Up to this time the whole con- 
quest has cost me only twenty men and two officers. 

"You are greatly wanting to me here. In all these three 
hundred miles I have found no human creature comparable to 
the Swan of Padua. I would willingly give ten cubic leagues 
of ground for a genius similar to yours. But I perceive I was 
about entreating you to return fast, and join me again, while you 
are not yet arrived where your errand was. Make haste to ar- 
rive then, to execute your commission, and fly back to me. I 
wish you had a Fortunatus hat ; it is the only thing defective 
in your outfit. 

* His next younger brother, Augustus William, who had accompanied him on the expedition. 

t Colonel Keyserling was a Courlander of good family. He had been officially named as 
"Companion" of the Crown Prince in his youthful clays. Frederick entitled him Cczsarion, 
and ever regarded him as one of the choicest of his friends. He was a man of very eccentric 
manners, but warm-hearted and exceedingly companionable. 

% Algarotti was a Venetian gentleman of much elegance of manners and dress. He was very 
fervent in his utterance, and could talk fluently upon every subject. He was just of the age of 
Frederick. Being the son of wealthy parents, he had enjoyed great advantages of study and 
travel, had already published several works, and was quite distinguished as a universal genius, 
a logician, a poet, a philosopher, and a connoisseur in all the arts. He was a great favorite of 
Frederick, and accompanied him to Strasbourg and on this expedition to Silesia. Wilhelmina 
describes him as "one of the first beaux esprits of the age," and " as one who does the expenses 
of the conversation. " 



234 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" Adieu, dear Swan of Padua. Think, I pray, sometimes of 
those who are getting themselves cut in slices for the sake of 
glory here ; and, above all, do not forget your friends who think 
a thousand times of you." 

The River Neisse is quite narrow. In preparation for the 
bombardment, Frederick planted his batteries on the south side 
of the stream, and also approached the city from the north. It 
will be remembered that Frederick had an army in Silesia at his 
command of about forty thousand men, abundantly provided 
with all the munitions of war. The little Austrian garrison 
hurriedly thrown into Neisse consisted of but sixteen hundred 
men, but poorly prepared either for battle or for siege. The 
Austrian commandant, General Roth, determined upon a heroic 
resistance. To deprive the assailants of shelter, the torch was 
applied to all the beautiful suburbs. In a few hours the cruel 
names destroyed the labor of ages. Many once happy families 
were impoverished and rendered homeless. Ashes, blackened 
walls, and smouldering ruins took the place of gardens, villas, 
and comfortable homes. 

On Sunday morning, January 15th, the deadly, concentric fire 
of shot and shell was opened upon the crowded city, where 
women and children, torn by war's merciless missiles, ran to and 
fro frantic w T ith terror. The dreadful storm continued to rage, 
with but few intermissions, until Wednesday. Still there were 
no signs of surrender. The king, though his head-quarters were 
a few miles distant, at Ottmachau, was almost constant^ on the 
ground superintending every thing. As he felt sure of the en- 
tire conquest of Silesia, the whole province being now in his 
possession except three small towns, he looked anxiously upon 
the destruction which his own balls and bombs were effecting. 
He was destroying his own property. 

On Wednesday morning General Borck was sent toward the 
gates of the city, accompanied by a trumpeter, who, with bugle 
blasts, was to summon General Roth to a parley. General Borck 
was instructed to inform the Austrian commander thatjf he sur- 
rendered immediately he should be treated with great leniency 
but that if he persisted in his defense the most terrible severity 
should be his doom. To the people of Neisse it was a matter 
of but very little moment whether they were under Austrian or 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



235 




ATTACK UPON KEISSE. 



Prussian domination. They would gladly accede to any terms 
which would deliver them from the dreadful bombardment. 
General Roth, therefore, would not allow what we should call 
the flag of truce to approach the gates. He opened fire upon 
General Borck so as not to wound him, but as a warning that 
he must approach no nearer. The king was greatly angered by 
this result. 

In burning the suburbs, one of the mansions of the bishop, a 
few miles from Neisse, had escaped the general conflagration. 
The Prussians had taken possession of this large and commodi- 
ous structure, with its ample supply of winter fuel. General 
Roth employed a resolute butcher, who, under the pretense of 
supplying the Prussians with beef, visited the bishop's mansion, 
and secretly applied the torch. It was a cold winter's night. 
The high wind fanned the flames. Scarcely an hour passed ere 
the whole structure, with all its supplies, was in ashes. The 
Prussian officers who had found a warm home were driven into 
the icy fields. 

These two events so exasperated his Prussian majesty that 
the next morning, at an early hour, he reopened upon the doom- 



236 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ed city with renewed vigor his fire of bombshells and red-hot 
shot. Fire companies were organized throughout the city, to 
rush with their engines wherever the glowing balls descended, 
and thus the flames which frequently burst out were soon extin- 
guished. All day Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, and until 
nine in the morning of Saturday, the tempest of battle, with oc- 
casional lulls, hurled its bolts and uttered its thunders. There 
was then a short rest until four o'clock on Sunday afternoon, 
when the batteries again opened their action more vigorously 
than ever, nine bombs being often in the air at the same time. 

Frederick, not willing utterly to destroy the city, which he 
wished to preserve for himself, and perhaps, though no word of 
his indicates it, influenced by some sympathy for the seven thou- 
sand unoffending inhabitants of the place, men, women, and chil- 
dren, very many of whom were Protestants, who were suffering 
far more from the missiles of war than the Austrian garrison, ar- 
rested the fire of his batteries, and decided to convert the siege 
into a blockade. His own troops were suffering much in the 
bleak fields swept by the gales of winter. The whole of Silesia 
was in his hands excepting the small towns of Brieg, Glogau, and 
Neisse. These were so closely invested that neither food nor re- 
enforcements could be introduced to them. Should they hold 
out until spring, Frederick could easily then, aided by the warm 
weather, break open their gates. 

He therefore spread his troops abroad in winter quarters, levy-- 
ing contributions upon the unhappy inhabitants of Silesia for 
their support. The king, ever prompt in his movements, having 
on Monday, the 23d of January, converted the siege into a block- 
ade, on Wednesday, the 25th, set out for home. Visiting one or 
two important posts by the way, he reached Berlin the* latter 
part of the week. Here he was received with great acclamations 
as a conquering hero. In six weeks he had overrun Silesia, and 
had virtually annexed it to his own realms. Whether Austria 
would quietly submit to this robbery, and whether Frederick 
would be able to retain his conquest, were questions wet to be 
decided. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 237 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE CAMPAIGN OF MOLLWITZ. 



Embarrassments of Frederick. — Attempts a Compromise. — New Invasion of Silesia. — Intrigues 
for the Imperial Crown. — Rivalry between England and France. — Death of Anne of Russia. 
— Energy of Austria. — Narrow Escape of Frederick. — Frederick's Antipathy to Christianity. 
— Capture of Glogau. — Peril of Frederick. — The Siege of Neisse. 

Frederick, returniug to Berlin from his six weeks' campaign 
in Silesia, remained at home but three weeks. He had reckless- 
ly let loose the dogs of war, and must already have begun to be 
appalled in view of the possible results. His embassadors at 
the various courts had utterly failed to secure for him any alli- 
ance. England and some of the other powers were manifestly 
unfriendly to him. Like Frederick himself, they were all dis- 
posed to consult merely their own individual interests. Thus 
influenced, they looked calmly on to see how Frederick, who had 
thrown into the face of the young Queen of Austria the gage of 
battle, would meet the forces which she, with great energy, was 
marshaling in defense of her realms. Frederick was manifestly 
and outrageously in the wrong. 

The chivalry of Europe was in sympathy with the young and 
beautiful queen, who, inexperienced, afflicted by the death of her 
father, and about to pass through the perils of maternity, had 
been thus suddenly and rudely assailed by one who should have 
protected her with almost a brother's love and care. Every 
court in Europe was familiar with the fact that the father of 
Maria Theresa had not only humanely interceded, in the most 
earnest terms, for the life of Frederick, but had interposed his im- 
perial authority* to rescue him from the scaffold, with which he 
was threatened by his unnatural parent. Frederick found that 
he stood quite alone, and that he had nothing to depend upon 
but his own energies and those of his compact, well-disciplined 
army. 

It would seem that Frederick was now disposed to compro- 
mise. He authorized the suggestion to be made to the court at 
Vienna by his minister, Count Gotter, that he was ready to with- 



238 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

draw from his enterprise, and to enter into alliance with Aus- 
tria, if the queen would surrender to him the duchy of Glogau 
only, which was but a small part of Silesia. But to these terms 
the heroic young queen would not listen. She justly regarded 
them but as the proposition of the highway robber, who offers 
to leave one his watch if he will peaceably surrender his purse. 
Whatever regrets Frederick might have felt in view of the diffi- 
culties in which he found himself involved, not the slightest in- 
dication of them is to be seen in his correspondence. He had 
passed the Rubicon. And now he summoned all his energies — 
such energies as the world has seldom, if ever, witnessed before, 
to carry out the enterprise upon which he had so recklessly en- 
tered, and from which he could not without humiliation with- 
draw. 

On the 19th of February, 1741, Frederick, having been at home 
but three weeks, again left Berlin with re-enforcements, increas- 
ing his army of invasion to sixty thousand men, to complete the 
conquest of Silesia by the capture of the three fortresses which 
still held out against him. On the 21st he reached Glogau. 
After carefully reconnoitring the works, he left directions with 
Prince Leopold of Dessau, who commanded the Prussian troops 
there, to press the siege with all possible vigor. He was fearful 
that Austrian troops might soon arrive to the relief of the place. 

The king then hastened on to Schweidnitz, a few miles west 
from Breslau. This was a small town, strongly fortified, about 
equally distant from the three beleaguered fortresses — Neisse, 
Brieg, and Glogau. The young monarch was daily becoming 
more aware that he had embarked in an enterprise which threat- 
ened him with fearful peril. He had not only failed to secure a 
single ally, but there were indications that England and* other 
powers were in secret deliberation to join against him. He soon 
learned that England had sent a gift or loan of a million of dol- 
lars — a large sum in those days — to replenish the exhausted 
treasury of Maria Theresa. His minister in Russia also trans- 
mitted to him an appalling rumor that a project was in contem 
plation by the King of England, the King of Poland, Anne, re- 
* gent of Russia, and Maria Theresa, to unite, and so partition the 
Prussian kingdom as to render the ambitious Frederick power- 
less to disturb the peace of Europe. The general motives which 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 239 

influenced the great monarchies in the stupendous war which 
was soon evolved are sufficiently manifest. But these motives 
led to a complication of intrigues which it would be alike tedi- 
ous and unprofitable to attempt to unravel. 

Frederick wished to enlarge his Liliputian realms, and become 
one of the powers of Europe. This he could only do by taking 
advantage of the apparent momentary weakness of Austria, and 
seizing a portion of the territory of the young queen. In order 
to accomplish this, it was for his interest to oppose the election 
of Maria Theresa's husband, the Grand-duke Francis, as emperor. 
The imperial crown placed upon the brow of Francis would in- 
vest Austria with almost resistless power. Still, Frederick was 
ready to promise his earnest concurrence in this arrangement if 
Maria Theresa would surrender to him Silesia. He had even 
moderated his terms, as we have mentioned, to a portion of the 
province. 

France had no fear of Prussia. Even with the addition of Si- 
lesia, it would be comparatively a feeble realm. But France did 
fear the supremacy of Austria over Europe. It was for the ap- 
parent interest of the court of Versailles that Austria should be 
weakened, and, consequently, that the husband of the queen 
should not be chosen Emperor of Germany. Therefore France 
was coming into sympathy with Frederick, and was disposed to 
aid him in his warfare against Austria. 

England w^as the hereditary foe of France. It was one of the 
leading objects in her diplomacy to circumvent that power. 
"Our great-grandfathers," writes Carlyle, " lived in perpetual 
terror that they would be devoured by France ; that French am- 
bition would overset the Celestial Balance, and proceed next to 
eat the British nation." Strengthening Austria was weakening 
France. Therefore the sympathies of England were strongly 
with Austria. In addition to this, personal feelings came in. 
The puerile little king, George II., hated implacably his nephew, 
Frederick of Prussia, which hatred Frederick returned with in- 
terest. 

Spain was at war wdth England, and was ready to enter into 
an alliance with any power which would aid her in her struggle 
with that formidable despot of the seas. 

The Czarina, Anne of Russia, died the 28th of October, 1740, 



240 EKEDEEICK THE GREAT. 

just eight days after the death of the emperor. She left, in the 
cradle, the infant Czar Iwan, her nephew, two months old. The 
father of this child was a brother of Frederick's neglected wife 
Elizabeth. The mother was the Eussian Princess Catharine of 
Mecklenburg, now called Princess Anne, whom Frederick had at 
one time thought of applying for as his wife. Russia was a semi- 
barbaric realm just emerging into consideration, and no one could 
tell by what influences it would be swayed. The minor powers 
could be controlled by the greater — constrained by terror or led 
by bribes. Such, in general, was the state of Europe at this time. 

Austria was rapidly marshaling her hosts, and pouring them 
through the defiles of the mountains to regain Silesia. Her 
troops still held three important fortresses — Neisse, Brieg, and 
Glogau. These places were, however, closely blockaded by the 
Prussians. Though it was midwinter, bands of Austrian horse- 
men were soon sweeping in all directions, like local war tempests 
borne on the wings of the wind. Wherever there was an un- 
protected baggage-train, or a weakly -defended post, they came 
swooping down to seize their prey, and vanished as suddenly as 
they had appeared. Their numbers seemed to be continually in- 
creasing. All the roads were swept by these swarms of irregu- 
lars, who carefully avoided any serious engagement, while they 
awaited the approach of the Austrian army, which was gather- 
ing its strength to throw down to Frederick the gauntlet on an 
open field of battle. 

Much to Frederick's chagrin, he soon learned that a body of 
three hundred foot and three hundred horse, cautiously approach- 
ing through by-paths in the mountains, had thrown itself into 
Neisse, to strengthen the garrison there. This was on the 5th 
of March. But six days before a still more alarming event had 
occurred. On the 27th of February, Frederick, with a small es- 
cort, not dreaming of danger, set out to visit two small posts in 
the vicinity of Neisse. He stopped to dine with a few of his 
officers in the little village of Wartha, while the principal part 
of the detachment which accompanied him continued its move- 
ment to Baumgarten. 

The leader of an Austrian band of live hundred dragoons was. 
on the watch. As the detachment of one hundred aucl fifty 
horse approached Baumgarten, the Austrians, from their ambus- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



241 



cade, plunged upon them. There was a short, sharp conflict, 
when the Prussians fled, leaving ten dead, sixteen prisoners, one 
standard, and two kettle-drums in the hands of the victors. The 
king had just sat down at the dinner-table, when he heard, at 
the distance of a few miles, the tumult of the musketry. He 
sprang from the table, hurriedly mustered a small force of forty 
hussars and fifty foot, and hastened toward the scene. Arriving 
at the field, he found it silent and deserted, and the ten men lying 




FREDERICK ON THE FIELD OF BAUMGARTEN. 

Q 



242 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

dead upon it. The victorious Austrians, disappointed in not 
finding the king, bore their spoils in triumph to Vienna. It was 
a very narrow escape for Frederick. Had he then been cap- 
tured it might have changed the history of Europe, and no one 
can tell the amount of blood and woe which would have been 
averted. 

It is perhaps not strange that Frederick should have imbibed 
a strong feeling of antipathy to Christianity. In his father's life 
he had witnessed only its most repulsive caricature. "While mak- 
ing the loudest protestations of piety, Frederick William, in his 
daily conduct, had manifested mainly only every thing that is 
hateful and of bad report. Still, it is quite evident that Freder- 
ick was not blind to the distinction between the principles of 
Christianity as taught by Jesus and developed in his life, and 
the conduct of those who, professing his name, trampled those 
principles beneath their feet. In one of his letters to Voltaire, 
dated Cirey, August 26, 1736, Frederick wrote: 

" May you never be disgusted with the sciences by the quar- 
rels of their cultivators ; a race of men no better than courtiers ; 
often enough as greedy, intriguing, false, and cruel as these. 

"And how sad for mankind that the very interpreters of Heav- 
en's commandments — the theologians, I mean — are sometimes 
the most dangerous of all ! professed messengers of the Divinity, 
yet men sometimes of obscure ideas and pernicious behavior, 
their soul blown out with mere darkness, full of gall and pride 
in proportion as it is empty of truths. Every thinking being 
who is not of their opinion is an atheist; and every king who 
does not favor them will be damned. Dangerous to the very 
throne, and yet intrinsically insignificant. 

" I respect metaphysical ideas. Eays of lightning they' are in 
the midst of deep night. More, I think, is not to be hoped from 
metaphysics. It does not seem likely that the first principles 
of things will ever be known. The mice that nestle in some lit- 
tle holes of an immense building know not whether it is eternal, 
or who the architect, or why he built it. Such mice are we. 
And the divine architect has never, that I know of, told his se- 
cret to one of us." 

Notwithstanding these sentiments, the king sent throughout 
Silesia a supply of sixty Protestant preachers, ordained especially 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 243 

for the work. Though Frederick himself did not wish to live 
in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ, it is very evi- 
dent that he did not fear the influence of that Gospel upon his 
Silesian subjects. Very wisely the Protestant preachers were 
directed carefully to avoid giving any offense to the Catholics. 
They were to preach in barns and town-halls in places where 
there was no Protestant church. The salary of each was one 
hundred and fifty dollars a year, probably with rations. They 
were all placed under the general superintendence of one of the 
army chaplains. 

Every day it became more clear that Maria Theresa was re- 
solved not to part with one inch of her territory, and that the 
Austrian court was thoroughly roused in its determination to 
drive the intrusive Prussians out of Silesia. Though Frederick 
had no scruples of conscience to prevent him from seizing a por- 
tion of the domains of Maria Theresa, his astonishment and in- 
dignation were alike aroused by the rumor that England, Po- 
land, and Russia were contemplating the dismemberment of his 
realms. An army of thirty-six thousand men, under the old 
Duke Leopold of Dessau,* was immediately dispatched by Fred- 
erick to Gotten, on the frontiers of Hanover, to seize upon that 
Continental possession of the King of England upon the slight- 
est indication of a hostile movement. George II. was greatly 
alarmed by this menace. 

Frederick found himself plunged into the midst, of difficulties 
and perils which exacted to the utmost his energies both of body 
and of mind. Every moment was occupied in strengthening his 
posts, collecting magazines, recruiting his forces, and planning to 
circumvent the foe. From the calm of Reinsberg he found him- 
self suddenly tossed by the surges of one of the most terrible 
tempests of conflict which a mortal ever encountered. Through 
night and storm, almost without sleep and without food, drenched 
and chilled, he was galloping over the hills and through the val- 

* Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau was one of the most extraordinary men of any age. His life 
was but a constant whirlwind of battle, almost from his birth in 1676, to his death in 1747. His 
face was of the " color of gunpowder, " and his fearless, tumultuous soul was in conformity with 
the rugged body in which it was incased. The whole character of the man may be inferred 
from the following prayer, which it is said he was accustomed to offer before entering battle : 
' ' God ! assist our side. At least, avoid assisting the enemy, and leave the result to me. " 
Leopold, called the Old Dessauer, and his son, the Young Leopold, were of essential service to 
Frederick in his wars. Pages might be filled illustrative of the character of this eccentric man. 



244 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

leys, climbing the steeples, fording the streams, wading the mo- 
rasses, involved in a struggle which now threatened even the 
crown which he had so recently placed upon his brow. Had 
Frederick alone suffered, but few tears of sympathy would have 
been shed in his behalf; but his ambition had stirred up a con- 
flict which was soon to fill all Europe with the groans of the 
dying, the tears of the widow, the wailings of the orphan. 

Frederick deemed it of great importance to gain immediate 
possession of Glogau. It was bravely defended by the Austrian 
commander, Count Wallis, and there was hourly danger that an 
Austrian army might appear for its relief. Frederick, in the in- 
tensity of his anxiety, as he hurried from post to post, wrote 
from every stopping-place to young Leopold, whom he had left 
in command of the siege, urging him immediately to open the 
trenches, concentrate the fire of his batteries, and to carry the 
place by storm. " I have clear intelligence," he wrote, " that 
troops are actually on the way for the rescue of Glogau." Each 
note was more imperative than the succeeding one. On the 6th 
of March he wrote from Ohlau : 

" I am certainly informed that the enemy will make some at- 
tempt. I hereby, with all distinctness, command that, so soon 
as the petards are come, you attack Glogau. And you must 
make your dispositions for more than one attack, so that if one 
fail the other shall certainly succeed. I hope you will put off 
no longer. Otherwise the blame of all the mischief that might 
arise out of longer delay must lie on you alone." 

On the 8th of March Leopold summoned all his generals at 
noon, and informed them that Glogau, at all hazards, must be 
taken that very night. The most minute directions were given 
to each one. There were to be three attacks — one up the river 
on its left bank, one down the river on its right bank, and one on 
the land side perpendicular to the other two. The moment the 
clock on the big steeple in Glogau should give the first stroke of 
midnight, the three columns were to start. Before the last stroke 
should be given they were all to be upon the silent, rapid advance. 

Count AYallis, who was intrusted with the defense of the place, 
had a garrison of about a thousand men, with fifty-eight heavy 
guns and several mortars, and a large amount of ammunition. 
Glogau was in the latitude of fifty-two, nearly six degrees north 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 245 

of Quebec. It was a cold wintry night. The ground was cov- 
ered Avith snow. Water had been thrown upon the glacis, so 
that it was slippery with ice. Prince Leopold in person led one 
of the columns. The sentinels upon the walls were not alarmed 
until three impetuous columns, like concentrating tornadoes, were 
sweeping down upon them. They shouted " To arms !" The 
soldiers, roused from sleep, rushed to their guns. Their light- 
ning flashes were instantly followed by war's deepest thunders, 
as discharge followed discharge in rapid succession. 

But the assailants were already so near the walls that the shot 
passed harmlessly over their heads. Without firing a gun or ut- 
tering a sound, these well-drilled soldiers of Frederick William 
hewed down the palisades, tore out the chevaux-cle-frise, and 
clambered over the glacis. With axe and petard they burst 
open the gates and surged into the city. 

In one short hour the gallant deed was done. But ten of the 
assailants were killed and forty-eight wounded. The loss of the 
Austrians was more severe. The whole garrison, one thousand 
sixty-five in number, and their materiel of war, consisting of fifty 
brass cannons, a large amount of ammunition, and the military 
chest, containing thirty-two thousand florins, fell into the hands 
of the victors. To the inhabitants of Grlogau it was a matter of 
very little moment whether the Austrian or the Prussian ban- 
ner floated over their citadel. Neither party paid much more 
regard to the rights of the people than they did to those of the 
mules and the horses. 

But to Frederick the importance of the achievement was very 
great. The exploit was justly ascribed to his general direction. 
Thus he obtained a taste of that military renown which he had 
so greatly coveted. The king was, at this time, at his head-quar- 
ters at Schweidnitz, about one hundred and twenty miles from 
Glogau. A courier, dispatched immediately from the captured 
town, communicated to him, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the 
glad tidings of the brilliant victory. 

Frederick was overjoyed. In the exuberance of his satisfac- 
tion, he sent Prince Leopold a present of ten thousand dollars. 
To each private soldier he gave half a guinea, and to the officers 
sums in proportion. To the old Duke of Dessauer, father of the 
young Prince Leopold, he wrote : 



246 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE ASSAULT ON GLOGATJ. 



" The more I think of the Glogau business the more important 
I find it. Prince Leopold has achieved the prettiest military 
stroke that has been done in this century. From my heart I 
congratulate you on having such a son. In boldness of resolu- 
tion, in plan, in execution, it is alike admirable, and quite gives 
a turn to my affairs." 

Leaving a sufficient force to garrison Glogau, the king ordered 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



247 



all the remaining regiments to be distributed among the other 
important posts; while Prince Leopold, in high favor Joined the 
king at Sckweidnitz, to assist in the siege of Neisse. Frederick 
rapidly concentrated his forces for the capture of Neisse before 
the Austrian army should march for its relief. He thought that 
the Austrians would not be able to take the field before the 
snow should disappear and the new spring grass should come, 
affording forage for their horses. 

But General Neipperg, the Austrian commander-in-chief, 
proved as watchful, enterprising, and energetic as Frederick. 




MAP ILLUSTRATING THE MOLLWITZ CAMPAIGN. 



248 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

His scouting bands swarmed in all directions. The Prussian 
foraging parties were cut off, their reconnoitrers were driven 
back, and all the movements of the main body of the Austrian 
army were veiled from their view. General Neipperg, hearing 
of the fall of Glogau, decided, notwithstanding the inclemency 
of the weather and the snow, to march immediately, with thirty 
thousand men, to the relief of Neisse. His path led through 
mountain defiles, over whose steep and icy roads his heavy guns 
and lumbering ammunition-wagons were with difficulty drawn. 

At the same time, Frederick, unaware of the movement of the 
Austrians, prepared to push the siege of Neisse with the Utmost 
vigor. Leaving some of his ablest generals to conduct the op- 
erations there, Frederick himself marched, with strong re-enforce- 
ments, to strengthen General Schwerin, who was stationed among 
the Jagerndorf hills, on the southern frontier of Silesia, to pre- 
vent the Austrians from getting across the mountains. March- 
ing from Ottmachau, the king met General Schwerin at Neustadt, 
half way to Jagerndorf, and they returned together to that place. 
But the swarming horsemen of General Neipperg were so bold 
and watchful that no information could be obtained of the situ- 
ation or movements of the Austrian army. Frederick, seeing no 
indications that General Neipperg was attempting to force his 
way through the snow-encumbered defiles of the mountains, pre- 
pared to return, and, with his concentrated force, press with all 
vigor the siege of Neisse. 

As he was upon the point of setting off, seven Austrian de- 
serters came in and reported that General Neipperg's full army 
was advancing at but a few miles' distance. Even as they were 
giving their report, sounds of musketry and cannon announced 
that the Prussian outposts were assailed by the advance-guard 
of the foe. The peril of Frederick was great. Had Neipperg 
known the prize within his reach, the escape of the Prussian 
king would have been almost impossible. Frederick had but 
three or four thousand men with him at Jagerndorf, and only 
three pieces of artillery, with forty rounds of ammunition.- Bands 
of Austrian cavalry on fleet horses were swarming all around 
him. Seldom, in the whole course of his life, had Frederick 
been placed in a more critical position. 

It was soon ascertained that the main body of the Austrian 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 249 

army was fifteen miles to the southwest, at Freudenthal, pressing 
on toward Neisse. General Neipperg, without the slightest sus- 
picion that Frederick was any where in his vicinity, had sent 
aside a reconnoitring party of skirmishers to ascertain if there 
were any Prussians at Jagerndorf. General Neipperg, at Freu- 
denthal, was as near Neisse as Frederick was at Jagerndorf. 

There was not a moment to be lost. General Neipperg was 
moving resolutely forward with a cloud of skirmishers in the 
advance and on his wings. With the utmost exertions Frederick 
immediately rendezvoused all his remote posts, destroying such 
stores as could not hastily be removed, and by a forced inarch 
of twenty-five miles in one day reached Neustadt. General Neip- 
perg was marching by a parallel road about twenty miles west 
of that which the Prussians traversed. At Neustadt the king 
was still twenty miles from Neisse. With the delay of but a 
few hours, that he might assemble all the Prussian bands from 
the posts in that neighborhood, the king again resumed his 
march. He had no longer any hope of continuing the siege of 
Neisse. His only aim was to concentrate all his scattered forces, 
which had been spread over an area of nearly two thousand 
square miles, and, upon some well-selected field, to trust to the 
uncertain issues of a general battle. There was no choice left 
for him between this course and an ignominious retreat. 

Therefore, instead of marching upon Neisse, the king directed 
his course to Steinau, twenty miles east of ISTeisse. The siege 
was abandoned, and the whole Prussian army, so far as was pos- 
sible, was gathered around the king. On the 5th of April Fred- 
erick established his head-quarters at Steinau. On that same 
day, General Neipperg, with the advanced corps of his army, tri- 
umphantly entered Neisse. Apprehensive of an immediate at- 
tack, Frederick made all his arrangements for a battle. In the 
confusion of those hours, during which the whole Prussian army, 
with all its vast accumulation of artillery and baggage- wagons, 
was surging like an inundation through the streets of Steinau, 
the village took fire and was burned to ashes. With great diffi- 
culty the artillery and powder were saved, being entangled in 
the narrow streets while the adjoining houses were enveloped in 
flames. The night was intensely cold. The Prussian army biv- 
ouacked in the open frozen fields. 



250 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

General Neipperg, as his men were weary with their long 
march, did not make an attack, but allowed his troops a short 
season of repose in the enjoyment of the comforts of Keisse. The 
next morning, the 6th, Frederick continued his retreat to Fried- 
land, ten miles farther north. He was anxious to get between 
the Austrians and Ohlau. He had many pieces of artillery there, 
and large stores of ammunition, which would prove a rich prize 
to the Austrians. It was Frederick's intention to cross the River 
Xeisse at a bridge at Sorgau, eight miles from Friedland ; but 
the officer in charge there had been compelled to destroy the 
bridge, to protect himself from the Austrian horsemen, who in 
large numbers had appeared upon the opposite banks. Prince 
Leopold was sent with the artillery and a strong force to recon- 
struct the bridge and force the passage, but the Austrian dra- 
goons were encountered in such numbers that the enterprise was 
found impossible. 

Frederick therefore decided to march down the river twenty 
miles farther, to Lowen, where there was a good bridge. To fa- 
vor the operation, Prince Leopold, with large divisions of the 
army and much of the baggage, was to cross the Neisse on pon- 
toons at Michelau, a few miles above Lowen. Both passages 
were successfully accomplished, and the two columns effected a 
junction on the west side of the river on the 8th of April. The 
blockade of Brieg was abandoned, and its blockading force 
united with the general army. 

General Neipperg had now left Neisse ; but he kept himself 
so surrounded by clouds of skirmishers as to render his march 
entirely invisible. Frederick, anxious to unite with him his 
troops under the Prince of Holstein Beck, advanced toward 
Grottkau to meet that division, which had been ordered 'to join 
him. The prince had been stationed at Frankenstein, with a 
force of about eight thousand, horse and foot ; but the Austrian 
scouts so occupied all the roads that the king had not been able 
to obtain any tidings from him whatever. 

It was Saturday, the 8th of April. A blinding, smothering 
storm of snow swept over the bleak plains. Breasting the gale, 
and wading through the drifts, the Prussian troops tramped 
along, unable to see scarcely a rod before them. At a little ham- 
let called Leipe the vanguard encountered a band of Austrian 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



251 



hussars. They took several captives. From them they learned, 
much to their chagrin and not a little to their alarm, that the 
Austrian army was already in possession of Grottkau. 

Instantly the Prussian troops were ordered to the right about. 
Rapidly retracing their steps through the streets of Leipe, much 
to the surprise of its inhabitants, they pressed on seven miles 
farther toward Ohlau, and encamped for the night. The anxiety 
of Frederick in these hours when he was retiring before the foe, 
and when there was every probability of his incurring disgrace 
instead of gaining honor, must have been dreadful. There was 
no sleep for him that night. The Prussians were almost sur- 
rounded by the Austrians, and it was quite certain that the mor- 
row would usher in a battle. Oppressed by the peril of his po- 
sition, the king, during the night, wrote to his brother Augustus 




THE NIGHT BEFORE MOLLWITZ. 



252 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

William, who was at Breslau, as follows. The letter was dated 
at the little village of Pogerell, where the king had taken shelter. 

" My dearest Brother, — The enemy has just got into Silesia. 
We are not more than a mile from them. To-morrow must de- 
cide our fortune. If I die, do not forget a brother who has al- 
ways loved you most tenderly. I recommend to you my most 
dear mother, my domestics, and my first battalion. Eichel and 
Schuhmacher are informed of all my testamentary wishes. 

" Remember me always, but console yourself for my death. 
The glory of the Prussian arms and the honor of the house have 
set me in action, and will guide me to my last moment. You 
are my sole heir. I recommend to you, in dying, those whom I 
have the most loved during my life — Keyserling, Jordan, War- 
tensleben, Hacke, who is a very honest man, Fredersdorf, and 
Eichel, in whom you may place entire confidence. 

"I bequeath eight thousand crowns ($6000) to my domestics. 
All that I have elsewhere depends on you. To each of my broth- 
ers and sisters make a present in my name ; a thousand affection- 
ate regards to my sister at Baireuth. You know what I think 
on their score ; and you know, better than I can tell you, the ten- 
derness and all the sentiments of most inviolable friendship with 
which I am, dearest brother, your faithful brother and servant 
till death, Frederick." 

To his friend Jordan, who was also in Breslau, he wrote : 

" My dear Jordan, — We are going to fight to-morrow. Thou 
knowest the chances of war. The life of kings is not more re- 
garded than that of private people. I know not what will hap- 
pen to me. 

" If my destiny is finished, remember a friend who loves thee 
always tenderly. If Heaven prolong my days, I will write to 
thee after to-morrow, and thou shalt hear of our victory. Adieu, 
dear friend; I shall love thee till death. Frederick." 

It is worthy of notice that there is no indication that the king 
sent any word of affectionate remembrance to his neglected wife. 
It is a remarkable feature in the character of the Emperor Na- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 253 

poleon I. that in his busiest campaigns rarely did a day pass in 
which he did not write to Josephine. He often wrote to her 
twice a day. 

Sunday morning, the 9th, dawned luridly. The storm raged 
unabated. The air was so filled with the falling snow that one 
could not see the distance of twenty paces, and the gale was 
piling up large drifts on the frozen plains. Neither army could 
move. Neipperg was in advance of Frederick, and had estab- 
lished his head-quarters at the village of Mollwitz, a few miles 
northwest of Pogerell. He had therefore got fairly between the 
Prussians and Ohlau. But Frederick knew not where the Aus- 
trian army w T as. For six-and-thirty hours the wild storm drove 
both Prussians and Austrians to such shelter as could be ob- 
tained in the several hamlets which were scattered over the ex- 
tended plain. 

Frederick disjmtched messengers to Ohlau to summon the 
force there to his aid; the messengers were all captured. The 
Prussians were now in a deplorable condition. The roads were 
encumbered and rendered almost impassable by the drifted snow. 
The army was cut off from its supplies, and had provisions on 
hand but for a single day. Both parties alike plundered the 
poor inhabitants of their cattle, sheep, and grain. Every thing 
that could burn was seized for their camp-fires. We speak of the 
carnage of the battle-field, and often forget the misery which is 
almost invariably brought upon the helpless inhabitants of the 
region through which the armies move. The schoolmaster of 
Mollwitz, a kind, simple-hearted, accurate old gentleman, wrote 
an account of the scenes he witnessed. Under date of Mollwitz, 
Sunday, April 9, he writes : 

" Country, for two days back, was in new alarm by the Aus- 
trian garrison of Brieg, now left at liberty, who sallied out upon 
the villages about, and plundered black cattle, sheep, grain, and 
whatever they could come at. But this day in Mollwitz the 
whole Austrian army was upon us. First there went three hun- 
dred hussars through the village to Griiningen, who quartered 
themselves there, and rushed hither and thither into houses, rob- 
bing and plundering. From one they took his best horses ; from 
another they took linen, clothes, and other furnitures and victual. 

" General Neipperg halted here at Mollwitz with the whole 



254 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

army before the village, in mind to quarter. And quarter was 
settled, so that a plow-farmer got four to five companies to lodge, 
and a spade-farmer two or three hundred cavalry. The houses 
were full of officers, and the fields full of horsemen and baggage ; 
and all around you saw nothing but fires burning. The wooden 
railings were instantly torn down for firewood. The hay, straw, 
barley were eaten away, and brought to nothing. Every thing 
from the barns was carried out. As the whole army could not 
lodge itself with us, eleven hundred infantry quartered at Laug- 
witz. Barzdorf got four hundred cavalry; and this day nobody 
knew what would come of it." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF FREDERICK. 

Preparing for the Battle. — The Surprise. — The Snow-encumbered Plain. — Horror of the Scene. 
— Flight of Frederick. — His Shame and Despair. — Unexpected Victory of the Prussians. — 
Letters of Frederick. —Adventures of Maupertuis. 

Monday morning the storm ceased. There was a perfect calm. 
For leagues the spotless snow, nearly two feet deep, covered all 
the extended plains. The anxiety of Frederick had been so 
great that for two nights he had not been able to get any sleep. 
He. had plunged into this war with the full assurance that he 
was to gain victory and glory. It now seemed inevitable that 
he was to encounter but defeat and shame. 

At the earliest dawn the whole army was in motion. Rank- 
ed in four columns, they cautiously advanced toward Ohlau, 
ready to deploy instantly into line of battle should the enemy 
appear. Scouts were sent out in all directions. But, toiling 
painfully through the drifts, they could obtain no reliable in- 
formation. The spy-glass revealed nothing but the winding- 
sheet of crisp and sparkling snow, with scarcely a shrub or a 
tree to break the dreary view. There were no fences to be seen 
— nothing but a smooth, white plain, spreading for miles around. 
The hamlet of Mollwitz, where General NeijDperg had establish- 
ed his head-quarters, was about seven miles north from Pogerell, 
from which point Frederick was marching. At the distance of 
a few miles from each other there were several wretched little 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 255 

hamlets, consisting of a few low, thatched, clay farm-houses clus- 
tered together. 

General Neipperg was not attempting to move in the deep 
snow. He, however, sent out a reconnoitring party of mounted 
hussars under General Kothenburg. About two miles from 
Mollwitz this party encountered the advance-guard of the Prus- 
sians. The hussars, after a momentary conflict, in which several 
fell, retreated and gave the alarm. General Neipperg was just 
sitting down to dinner. The Prussian advance waited for the 
rear columns to come up, and then deployed into .line. As the 
Austrian hussars dashed into the village of Mollwitz with the 
announcement that the Prussians were on the march, had attack- 
ed them, and killed forty of their number, General Neipperg 
dropped knife and fork, sprang from the table, and dispatched 
couriers in all directions, galloping for life, to concentrate his 
troops. His force was mainly distributed about in three vil- 
lages, two or three miles apart. The clangor of trumpets and 
drums resounded ; and by the greatest exertions the Austrian 
troops were collected from their scattered encampments, and 
formed in two parallel lines, about two miles in length, facing 
the Prussians, who were slowly advancing in the same order, 
wading through the snow. Each army was formed with the in- 
fantry in the centre and the cavalry on the wings. Frederick 
was then but an inexperienced soldier. He subsequently con- 
demned the want of military ability which he displayed upon 
this occasion. 

" We approached," he writes, " Marshal Neipperg's army with- 
out being discovered by any one man living. His troops were 
then cantoned in three villages. But at that time I had not suf- 
ficient experience to know how to avail myself of such an oppor- 
tunity. I ought immediately to have ordered two of my col- 
umns to surround the village of Mollwitz, and then to have at- 
tacked it. I ought at the same instant to have detached my 
dragoons with orders to have attacked the other two villages, 
which contained the Austrian cavalry. The infantry, w^hich 
should have followed, would have prevented them from mount- 
ing. If I had proceeded in this way I am convinced that I 
should have totally destroyed the Austrian army."* 

* Military Instructions, p. 113. 



256 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

It was now about noon. The sun shone brightly on the glis- 
tening snow. There was no wind. Twenty thousand peasants, 
armed and drilled as soldiers, were facing each other upon either 
side, to engage in mutual slaughter, with no animosity between 
them — no cause of quarrel. It is one of the unrevealed myster- 
ies of Providence that any one man should thus have it in his 
power to create such wide-spread death and misery. The Aus- 
trians had a splendid body of cavalry, eight thousand six hun- 
dred in number. Frederick had but about half as many horse- 
men. The Prussians had sixty pieces of artillery, the Austrians 
but eighteen. 

The battle soon began, with its tumult, its thunder-roar of ar- 
tillery and musketry, its' gushing blood, its cries of agony, its 
death convulsions. Both parties fought with the reckless cour- 
age, the desperation with which trained soldiers, of whatever 
nationality, almost always fight. 

The Prussians advanced in their long double line, trampling 
the deep snow beneath their feet. All their banners were wav- 
ing. All their bands of music were pealing forth their most 
martial airs. Their sixty pieces of artillery, well in front, open- 
ed a rapid and deadly fire. The thoroughly-drilled Prussian 
artillerymen discharged their guns with unerring aim, breaking 
gaps in the Austrian ranks, and with such wonderful rapidity 
that the unintermitted roar of the cannons drowned the sound 
of drums and trumpets. 

The Austrian cavalry made an impetuous charge u]3on the 
weaker Prussian cavalry on the right of the Prussian line. Fred- 
erick commanded here in person. The Prussian right wing was 
speedily routed, and driven in wild retreat over the plain. The 
king lost his presence of mind and fled ingloriously with the fu- 
gitives. General Schulenberg endeavored, in vain, to rally the 
disordered masses. He received a sabre slash across his face. 
Drenched in blood, he still struggled, unavailingly, to arrest the 
torrent, when a bullet struck him dead. The battle was now 
raging fiercely all along the lines. 

General Eomer, in command of the Austrian cavalry, had 
crushed the right wing of the Prussians. Resolutely he follow- 
ed up his victory, hotly chasing the fugitives in the wildest dis- 
order far away to the rear, capturing nine of their guns. Who 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



257 



can imagine the scene? There were three or four thousand 
horsemen put to utter rout, clattering over the plain, impetuous- 
ly pursued by six or seven thousand of the finest cavalry in the 
world, discharging pistol-shots into their flying ranks, and rain- 
ing down upon them sabre-blows. 

■ The young king, all unaccustomed to those horrors of war 
which he had evoked, was swept along with the inundation. 
The danger of his falling in the midst of the general carnage, or 
of his capture, which was, perhaps, still more to be dreaded, was 
imminent. His friends entreated him to escape for his life. 
Even Marshal Schwerin, the veteran soldier, assured him that 
the battle was lost, and that he probably could escape capture 
only by a precipitate flight. 
Frederick, thus urged, leaving the main body of his army, as 




FLIGHT OF FREDERICK. 

E 



258 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

he supposed, in utter rout, with a small escort, put spurs to his 
steed in the attempt to escape. The king was well mounted on 
a very splendid bay horse. A rapid ride of fifteen miles in a 
southerly direction brought him to the River Neisse, which he 
crossed by a bridge at the little town of Lowen. Immediately 
after his departure Prince Leopold dispatched a squadron of 
dragoons to accompany the king as his body-guard. But Fred- 
erick fled so rapidly that they could not overtake him, and in 
the darkness, for night soon approached, they lost his track. 
Even several of the few who accompanied him, not so well 
mounted as the king, dropped off by the way, their horses not 
being able to keep up with his swift pace. 

It was Frederick's aim to reach Oppeln, a small town upon 
the River Oder, about thirty miles from the field of battle. He 
supposed that one of his regiments still held that place. But 
this regiment had hurriedly vacated the post, and had repaired, 
with all its baggage, to Pampitz, in the vicinity of Mollwitz. 
Upon the retirement of this garrison a wandering party of sixty 
Austrian hussars had taken possession of the town. 

Frederick, unaware that Oppeln was in the hands of the ene- 
my, arrived, with the few of his suite who had been able to keep 
up with him, about midnight before the closed gates of the town. 
"Who are you?" the Austrian sentinels inquired. "We are 
Prussians," was the reply, "accompanying a courier from the 
king." The Austrians, unconscious of the prize within their 
grasjj, and not knowing how numerous the Prussian party might 
be, instantly opened a musketry fire upon them through the iron 
gratings of the gate. Had they but thrown open the gate and 
thus let the king enter the trap, the whole history of Europe 
might have been changed. Upon apparently such trivial chances 
the destinies of empires and of the world depend. Fortunately, 
in the darkness and the confusion, none were struck by the bul- 
lets. 

At Oppeln there was a bridge across the Oder by which the 
king hoped to escape with his regiment to the free country be- 
yond. There he intended to summon to his aid the army of 
thirty-six thousand men which he had sent to Gotten under the 
" Old Dessauer." The discharge of the musketry of the Aus- 
trians blasted even this dismal hope. It seemed as though Fred- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 259 

erick were doomed to drain the cup of misery to its dregs ; and 
his anguish must have been intensified by the consciousness that 
he deserved it all. But a few leagues behind him, the bleak, 
snow-clad plains, swept by the night- winds, were strewed with 
the bodies of eight or nine thousand men, the dying and the 
dead, innocent peasant-boys torn from their homes, whose butch- 
ery had been caused by his own selfish ambition. 

The king, in utter exhaustion from hunger, sleeplessness, anx- 
iety, and misery, for a moment lost all self-control. As with his 
little band of fugitives he vanished into the gloom of the night, 
not knowing where to go, he exclaimed, in the bitterness of his 
despair, " O my God, my God, this is too much I" 

Retracing his steps in the darkness some fifteen miles, he re- 
turned to Lowen, where, by a bridge, a few hours before, he had 
crossed the Neisse. Taught caution by the misadventure at Op- 
peln, he reined up his horse, before the morning dawned, at the 
mill of Hilbersdorf, about a mile and a half from the town. The 
king, upon his high-blooded charger, had outridden nearly all 
his escort ; but one or two were now with him. One of these 
attendants he sent into the town to ascertain if it were still held 
by the Prussians. Almost alone, he waited under the shelter of 
the mill the return of his courier. It was still night, dark and 
cold. The wind, sweeping over the snow-clad plains, caused the 
exhausted, half-famished monarch to shiver in his saddle. 

There is a gloom of the soul far deeper than any gloom with 
which nature can ever be shrouded. It is not easy to conceive 
of a mortal placed in circumstances of greater mental suffering 
than was the proud, ambitious young monarch during the hour 
in which he waited, in terror and disgrace, by the side of the 
mill, for the return of his courier. At length the clatter of hoofs 
was heard, and the messenger came back, accompanied by an ad- 
jutant, to announce to the king that the Prussians still held 
Lowen, and that the Prussian army had gained a signal victory 
at Mollwitz. 

Who can imagine the conflicting emotions of joy and wretch- 
edness, of triumph and shame, of relief and chagrin, with which 
the heart of Frederick must have been rent ! The army of Prus- 
sia had triumphed, under the leadership of his generals, while 
he, its young and ambitious . sovereign, who had unjustly pro- 



260 



FEEDERICK THE GREAT. 




FREDERICK AT THE MILL. 



voked war that lie might obtain military glory, a fugitive from 
the field, was scampering like a coward over the plains at mid- 
night, seeking his own safety. Never, perhaps, was there a more 
signal instance of a retributive providence. Frederick knew full 
well that the derision of Europe would be excited by caricatures 
and lampoons of the chivalric fugitive. Nor was he deceived in 
his anticipations. There was no end to the ridicule which was 
heaped upon Frederick, galloping, for dear life, from the battle- 
field in one direction, while his solid columns were advancing to 
victory in the other. His sarcastic foes were ungenerous and 
unjust. But when do foes, wielding the weapons of ridicule, 
ever pretend even to be just and generous ? 

The king, upon receiving these strange and unexpected tid- 
ings, immediately rode into Lowen. It was an early hour in the 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



261 



morning. He entered the place, not as a king and a conqueror, 
but as a starving fugitive, exhausted with fatigue, anxiety, and 
sleeplessness. It is said that his hunger was so great that he 
stopped at a little shop on the corner of the market-place, where 
" widow Panzern" served him with a cup of coffee and a cold 
roast fowl. Thus slightly refreshed, the intensely humiliated 
young king galloped back to his victorious army at Mollwitz, 
having been absent from it, in his terror-stricken flight, for six- 
teen hours. 

The chagrin of Frederick in view of this adventure may be 
inferred from the fact that, during the whole remainder of his 
life, he was never known to make any allusion to it whatever. 

After the king, swept away in the wreck of his right wing of 
cavalry, had left the field, and was spurring his horse in his im- 
petuous flight, his generals in the centre and on the left, in com- 
mand of infantry so highly disciplined that every man would 
stand at his post until he died, resolutely maintained the battle. 
Frederick William had drilled these men for twenty years as 
men were never drilled. before or since, converting them into 
mere machines. They were wielded by their officers as they 
themselves handled their muskets. Five successive cavalry 
charges these cast-iron men resisted. They stood like rocks dash- 
ing aside the torrent. The assailing columns melted before their 
terrible fire — they discharging five shots to the Austrians' two. 

After the fifth charge, the Austrians, dispirited, and leaving 
the snow plain crimsoned with the blood and covered with the 
bodies of their slain, withdrew out of ball range. Torn and ex- 
hausted, they could not be driven by their officers forward to 
another assault. The battle had now lasted for live hours. 



BATTLE OF 

MOLLWITZ, 

April 10, 1741. 

a. Advance of Prussians. 

b. Where Rothenburg met 

the Hussars. 

c. Prussian Infantry. 
dd. " Cavalry. 

e. Austrian Iufantry. 
///. " Cavalry. 
gg. Retreat of Austrians. 




262 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Night was at hand, for the sun had already set. The repulsed 
Austrians were collected in scattered and confused bands. The 
experienced eye of General Schwerin saw that the hour for de- 
cisive action had come. He closed up his ranks, ordered every 
band to play its most spirited air, and gave the order " For- 
ward." An Austrian officer, writing the next week, describes 
the scene. 

" I can well say," he writes, " that I never in my life saw any 
thing more beautiful. They marched with the greatest steadi- 
ness, arrow straight and their front like a line, as if they had 
been upon parade. The glitter of their clear arms shone strange- 
ly in the setting sun, and the fire from them went on no other- 
wise than a continued peal of thunder. The spirits of our army 
sank altogether, the foot plainly giving way, the horse refusing 
to come forward — all things wavering toward dissolution." 

The Austrians had already lost, in killed, wounded, and miss- 
ing, four thousand four hundred and ten men. And though the 
Prussians had lost four thousand six hundred and thirteen, still 
their infantry lines had never for a moment wavered ; and now, 
with floating banners and peals of music, they were advancing 
with the strides of conquerors. 

Thus circumstanced, General Neipperg gave the order to re- 
treat. At the double quick, the Austrians retired back through 
the street of Mollwitz, hurried across the Eiver Laugwitz by a 
bridge, and, turning short to the south, continued their retreat 
toward Grottkau. They left behind them nine of their own 
guns, and eight of those which they had captured from the Prus- 
sians. The Prussians, exhausted by the long battle, their caval- 
ry mostly dispersed and darkness already enveloping them, did 
not attempt any vigorous pursuit. They bivouacked on the 
grounds, or quartered themselves in the villages from which the 
Austrians had fled. 

On Wednesday, April 12, two days after the battle, Frederick 
wrote to his sister Wilhelmina from Ohlau as follows : 

" My dearest Sister, — I have the satisfaction to inform you 
that we have yesterday* totally beaten the Austrians. They 

* It was the day before. But it is not surprising that the bewildered young king should have 
been somewhat confused in his dates. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 263 

have lost more than five thousand men in killed, wounded, and 
prisoners. We have lost Prince Frederick, brother of Margraf 
Karl ; General Schulenberg, Wartensleben of the Carabineers, 
and many other officers. Our troops did miracles, and the re- 
sult shows as much. It was one of the rudest battles fought 
within the memory of man. 

" I am sure you will take part in this happiness, and that you 
will not doubt the tenderness with which I am, dearest sister, 
yours wholly, Frederick." 

The king's intimate friend, Jordan, had accompanied him as 
far as Breslau. There he remained, anxiously awaiting the issue 
of the conflict. On the 11th, the day succeeding the battle, he 
wrote from Breslau to the king as follows : 

" Sire, — Yesterday I was in terrible alarms. The sound of 
the cannon heard, the smoke of powder visible from the steeple- 
tops here, all led us to suspect that there was a battle going on. 
Glorious confirmation of it this morning. Nothing but rejoicing 
among all the Protestant inhabitants, who had begun to be in 
apprehension from the rumors which the other party took pleas- 
ure in spreading. Persons who were in the battle can not 
enough celebrate the coolness and bravery of your majesty. 
For myself, I am at the overflowing point. I have run about all 
day announcing this glorious news to the Berliners who are here. 
In my life I have never felt a more perfect satisfaction. One 
finds at the corner of every street an orator of the people cele- 
brating the warlike feats of your majesty's troops. I have oft- 
en, in my idleness, assisted at these discourses ; not artistic elo- 
quence, it must be owned, but gushing full from the heart." 

Frederick immediately sent an announcement of the victory 
to his friend Voltaire. It does not appear that he alluded to his 
own adventures. Voltaire received the note when in the thea- 
tre at Lisle, while listening to the first performance of his trage- 
dy of Mahomet. He read the account to the audience between 
the acts. It was received with great applause. "You will see," 
said Voltaire, " that this piece of Mollwitz will secure the suc- 
cess of mine." Votes verrez que cette piece de Mollwitz f era reus- 
sir la miene. 

The distinguished philosopher Maupertuis accompanied Fred- 



264 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

erick on this campaign. Following the king to the vicinity of 
the field of battle, he took a post of observation at a safe dis- 
tance, that he might witness the spectacle. Carlyle, in his pe- 
culiar style of word-painting, describes the issue as follows : 

" The sage Maupertuis, for example, had climbed some tree, or 
place of impregnability, hoping to see the battle there. And he 
did see it much too clearly at last ! In such a tide of charging 
and chasing on that Eight Wing, and round all the field in the 
Prussian rear ; in such wide bickering and boiling of Horse-cur- 
rents, which fling out round all the Prussian rear-quarters such 
a spray of Austrian Hussars for one element, Maupertuis, I have 
no doubt, wishes much he were at home doing his sines and 
tangents. An Austrian Hussar party gets sight of him on his 
tree or other stand-point (Voltaire says elsewhere he was mount- 
ed on an ass, the malicious spirit !) — too certain the Austrian 
Hussars got sight of him ; his purse, gold watch, all he has of 
movable, is given frankly; all will not do. There are frills 
about the man, fine laces, cloth ; a goodish yellow wig on him 
for one thing. Their Slavonic dialect, too fatally intelligible by 
the pantomime accompanying it, forces sage Maupertuis from his 
tree or stand-point; the big red face flurried into scarlet, I can 
fancy, or scarlet and ashy- white mixed ; and — Let us draw a 
veil over it. He is next seen shirtless, the once very haughty, 
blustery, and now much humiliated man; still conscious of su- 
preme acumen, insight, and pure science; and, though an Aus- 
trian prisoner and a monster of rags, struggling to believe that he 
is a genius, and the Trismegistus of mankind. What a pickle !'■ 

While in this deplorable condition, Maupertuis was found by 
the Prince of Lichtenstein, an Austrian officer who had met him 
in Paris. The prince rescued him from his brutal captors and 
supplied him with clothing. He was, however, taken to Vienna 
as a prisoner of war, where he was placed on parole. Voltaire, 
whose unamiable nature was pervaded by a very marked vein 
of malignity, made himself very merry over the misfortunes of 
the philosopher. As Maupertuis glided about the streets of Vi- 
enna for a time in obscurity, the newspapers began to speak of 
his scientific celebrity. He was thus brought into notice. The 
queen treated him with distinction. The Grand-duke Francis 
drew his own watch from his pocket, and presented it to Mau- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 265 

pertuis in recompense for the one he had lost. Eventually he 
was released, and, loaded with many presents, was sent to Brit- 
tany. 

In the account which Frederick gave, some years after, of this 
campaign, in his Histoire de Mons Temps, he wrote : 

" The contest between General Neipperg and myself seemed 
to be which should commit the most faults. Mollwitz was the 
school of the king and his troops. That prince reflected pro- 
foundly upon all the faults and errors he had fallen into, and 
tried to correct them for the future." 



CHAPTEE XV. 

THE WAR ES" SILESIA. 

The Encampment at Brieg. — Bombardment. — Diplomatic Intrigues. — Luxury of the Spanish 
Minister. — Rising Greatness of Frederick. — Frederick's Interview with Lord Hyndford. — 
Plans of France. — Desperate Prospects of Maria Theresa. — Anecdote of Frederick. — Joint 
Action of England and Holland. — Heroic Character of Maria Theresa. — Coronation of the 
Queen of Hungary. 

After the battle of Mollwitz, General Neipperg withdrew 
the defeated Austrian army to the vicinity of Neisse, where he 
strongly intrenched himself. Frederick encamped his troops 
around Brieg, and made vigorous preparations to carry the place 
by storm. With great energy he pushed forward his works, 
and in less than three weeks was ready for the assault. On the 
night of April 26 there was a tempest of extraordinary violence, 
which was followed, the next night, by a dead calm, a cloudless 
sky, and a brilliant moon. On both sides of the River Oder, 
upon which Brieg was situated, there was an open champaign 
country. Several bridges crossed the river. At a fixed moment 
two thousand diggers were collected, at appointed stations, di- 
vided into twelve equal parties. With the utmost exactness 
they were equipped with all the necessary implements. These 
diggers, with spade and pickaxe, and yet thoroughly armed, were 
preceded a few yards by covering battalions, who, having stealth- 
ily and silently obtained the position assigned to them, were to 
lie flat upon the ground. Not a gun was to be fired; not a 
word was to be spoken save in a whisper ; not even a pipe was 
to be lighted. Some engineers were to mark out with a straw 



266 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

rope, just in the rear of the covering party, the line of the first 
parallel. Every imaginable contingency was provided for, and 
each man was to attend to his individual duty with the precision 
of clock-work. 

Precisely at midnight all were in silent, rapid motion. The 
march of half an hour brought them to their appointed stations. 
The soft and sandy soil was easily shoveled. Every man plied 
pick and spade with intensest energy. As the town clock of 
Brieg struck one, they had so far dug themselves in as to be 
quite sheltered from the fire of the hostile batteries, should the 
guns open upon them. Before the dawn of day they had two 
batteries, of twenty-five guns each, in position, and several mor- 
tars ready for action. 

Thus far the enemy had no suspicion of the movement. But 
now the sun was rising, and, almost simultaneously on both 
sides, the roar of battle commenced. The positions had been so 
adroitly taken as to bring three Prussian guns to bear upon 
each gun of the Austrians. The Prussian gunners, drilled to, the 
utmost possible accuracy and precision of fire, poured into the 
city a terrific tempest of shot and shells. Every thing had been 
so carefully arranged that, for six days and nights, with scarcely 
a moment's intermission, the doomed city was assailed with such 
a tornado of cannonading and bombardment as earth had sel- 
dom, if ever, witnessed before. . 

The city took fire in many places ; magazines were consumed ; 
the ducal palace was wrapped in fiames. Nearly fifteen thou- 
sand cannon-balls, and over two thousand bombs, were hurled 
crashing through the thronged dwellings. Many of the Aus- 
trian guns were silenced. General Piccolomini, who was intrust- 
ed with the defense of the place, could stand it no longer. On 
the 4th of May he raised above the walls the white flag of sur- 
render. The gallant general was treated magnanimously. He 
was invited to dine with Frederick, and, with the garrison, was 
permitted to retire to Neisse, pledged not to serve against the 
Prussians for two years. The town had been nearly demolished 
by the war-tempest which had beat so fiercely upon it. Fred- 
erick immediately commenced repairing the ruins and strength- 
ening the fortifications. 

All Europe was thrown into commotion by this bold and sue- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 267 

cessful invasion of Silesia. France was delighted, for Prussia 
was weakening Austria. England was alarmed. The weaken- 
ing of Austria was strengthening France, England's dreaded ri- 
val. And Hanover was menaced by the Prussian army at Got- 
ten, under the Old Dessauer. The British Parliament voted an 
additional subsidy of £300,000 to Maria Theresa. Two hundred 
thousand had already been granted her. This, in all, amounted 
to the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars. En- 
voys from all the nations of Europe were sent to Frederick's en- 
campment at Strehlen, in the vicinity of Brieg. Some were sent 
seeking his alliance, some with terms of compromise, and all to 
watch his proceedings. The young king was not only acquiring 
the territory which he sought, but seemed to be gaining that re- 
nown which he had so eagerly coveted. He did not feel strong 
enough to make an immediate attack upon the Austrian army, 
which General Neipperg held, in an almost impregnable posi- 
tion, behind the ramparts of Neisse. For two months he re- 
mained at Strehlen, making vigorous preparations for future 
movements, and his mind much engrossed with diplomatic in- 
trigues. Strehlen is a pretty little town, nestled among the hills, 
about twenty-five miles west of Brieg, and thirty northwest of 
Neisse. The troops were mainly encamped in tents on the fields 
around. The embassadors from the great monarchies of Europe 
were generally sumptuously lodged in Strehlen, or in Breslau, 
which was a beautiful city about thirty miles north of Strehlen. 
Baron Bielfeld in the following terms describes the luxury in 
which the Spanish minister indulged : 

" Each of these ministers makes a most brilliant figure, and 
never have I seen one travel with more ease and convenience, 
more elegance and grandeur, than does the Marquis of Montijo. 
Wherever he- stops to dine or sup, he finds a room hung with 
the richest tapestry, and the floor covered with Turkey carpets, 
with velvet chairs, and every other kind of convenience ; a table 
sumptuously served, the choicest wines, and a dessert of fruit and 
confectionery that Paris itself could not excel. This kind of en- 
chantment, this real miracle in Germany, is performed by means 
of three baggage- wagons, of which two always go before the em- , 
bassador, and carry with them every thing necessary for his re- 
ception. When they arrive in some poor village, the domestics 



268 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

that accompany each wagon immediately clear and clean some 
chamber, fix the tapestry by rings to the walls, cover the floor 
with carpets, and furnish the kitchen and cellar with every kind 
of necessary."* 

Speaking of Frederick at this time, Bielfeld says : " Notwith- 
standing all the fatigues of war, the king is in perfect health, 
and more gay and pleasant than ever. All who approach his 
majesty meet with a most gracious reception. In the midst of 
his camp, and at the head of sixty thousand Prussians, our mon- 
arch appears to me with a new and superior air of greatness." 

Circumstances had already rendered Frederick one of the most 
important personages in Europe. He could ally himself with 
France, and humble Austria ; or he could ally himself with En- 
gland and Austria, and crush France. All the lesser lights in 
the Continental firmament circulated around these central lumi- 
naries. Consequently Frederick was enabled to take a conspic- 
uous part in all the diplomatic intrigues which were then agita- 
ting the courts of Europe. 

On the 7th of May, three days after the capture of Brieg, Lord 
Hyndford ? the English embassador, arrived at the camp of Fred- 
erick, and obtained an audience with his majesty. It was eleven 
o'clock in the forenoon. He gave his government a very minute 
narrative of the interview. The following particulars, gleaned 
from that narrative, will interest the reader. It will be remem- 
bered that Frederick cherished a strong antipathy against his 
uncle, George II. of England. 

Lord Hyndford commenced his communication by assuring his 
majesty of the friendly feelings and good wishes of the English 
government. Frederick listened with much impatience, and soon 
interrupted him, exclaiming passionately, 

" How is it possible, my lord, to believe things so contradict- 
ory ? It is mighty fine, all this that you now tell me, on the 
part of the King of England. But how does it correspond with 
his last speech in Parliament, and with the doings of his minis- 
ters at Petersburg and at the Hague, to stir up allies against 
me ? I have reason to doubt the sincerity of the King of En- 
gland. Perhaps he means to amuse me. But" (with an oathf) 

* Monsieur le Baron Bielfeld, Lettres Farnilieres et Autres, tome i. , p. 3. 
f "Some men," says a quaint writer, "have a God to swear by, though they have none to 
pray to." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 269 

" he is mistaken. I will risk every thing rather than abate the 
least of my pretensions." 

Lord Hyndford, evidently embarrassed, for the facts were 
strongly against him, endeavored, in some additional remarks, to 
assnme ignorance of any unfriendly action on the part of the 
British government. The king again, in a loud and angry tone, 
replied, 

" My lord, there seems to be a contradiction in all this. The 
King of England, in his letter, tells me you are instructed as to 
every thing, and yet you pretend ignorance. But I am perfectly 
informed of all. And I should not be surprised if, after all these 
fine words, you should receive some strong letter or resolution 
for me." Then, turning to his secretary, he added, sarcastically, 
" Write down that my lord would be surprised to receive such 
instruction." 

Lord Hyndford, who says that by this rude assailment he was 
put extremely upon his guard, rejoined : 

"Europe is under the necessity of taking some speedy resolu- 
tion, things are in such a state of crisis. Like a fever in a hu- 
man body, got to such a height that quinquina becomes necessa- 
ry. Shall we apply to Vienna, your majesty ?" 

A transient smile flitted across the king's countenance. Then, 
looking cold again, he added, " Follow your own will in that." 

"Would your majesty," Lord Hyndford replied, "engage to 
stand by his excellency Gotter's original offer at Vienna on your 
part ? That is, would you agree, in consideration of the surren- 
der to you of Lower Silesia and Breslau, to assist the Queen of 
Austria, with all your troops, for the maintenance of the Prag- 
matic Sanction, and to vote for the Grand-duke Francis as em- 
peror V 

"Yes," was. the monosyllabic reply. 

"What was the sum of money your majesty then offered the 
Queen of Austria V Lord Hyndford inquired. 

The king hesitated, as though he had forgotten. But his sec- 
retary answered, "Three million florins ($1,500,000)." 

" I should not value the money," the king added. " If money 
would content her I would give more." 

After a long pause Lord Hyndford inquired, "Would your 
majesty consent to an armistice V 



270 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

"Yes," Frederick replied; "but for not less than six months" 
(counting on his fingers from May to December) — " till Decem- 
ber 1. The season then would be so far gone that the) 7 could 
do nothing." 

As the secretary, Podewils, had been taking notes, Lord Hynd- 
ford requested permission to look at them, that he might see 
that no mistake had been made. The king assented, and then 
Lord Hyndford bowed himself out. Thus ended the audience. 

A few days after this interview, the Dutch embassador, Gen- 
eral Ginckel, arrived with the Kesolution from the English and 
Dutch courts, demanding that the king should evacuate Silesia. 
Lord Hyndford was much embarrassed, apprehending that the 
presentation of the summons at that time would work only mis- 
chief. He persuaded General Ginckel to delay the presentation 
until he could send a courier to England for instructions. In a 
fortnight the courier returned with the order that the Kesolu- 
tion was immediately to be presented to his Prussian majesty. 

In the mean time, Frederick, who kept himself thoroughly in- 
formed of all these events, signed secretly, on the 5th of June, a 
treaty of intimate alliance with France. Though he had not yet 
received the Joint Resolution of the English and Dutch courts, 
he was well aware of its existence, and the next day sent to his 
envoy, M. Easfeld, at the Hague, the following dispatch : 

" You will beforehand inform the high mightinesses in regard 
to that Advice of April 24th, which they determined on giving, 
me, through his excellency General Ginckel, along with his ex- 
cellency Lord Hyndford, that such advice can be considered by 
me only as a blind complaisance to the court of Vienna's im- 
proper urgencies. That for certain I will not quit Silesia till 
my claims be satisfied. And the longer I am forced to continue 
warring for them here, the higher they will rise." 

The plan of France, as conceived and pushed resolutely for- 
ward by the Count of Belleisle, the renowned minister of Louis 
XV., was to divide Germany into four small kingdoms of about 
equal power, Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia, and Austria. The King 
of Bavaria, as one of the proteges of France, was to be chosen 
Emperor of Germany To accomplish this, Austria was to be 
reduced to a second-rate power by despoiling the young queen, 
Maria Theresa, of large portions of her territory, and annexing 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 271 

the provinces wrested from her to the petty states of Prussia, 
Bavaria, and Saxony, thus sinking Austria to an equality with 
them. France, the grand nation, would then be indisputably 
the leading power in Europe. By bribery, intimidation, and in- 
citing one kingdom against another, the court of Versailles could 
control the policy of the whole Continent. Magnificent as was 
this plan, many circumstances seemed then combining to render 
it feasible. The King of Prussia, inspired simply by the desire 
of enlarging his kingdom by making war against Austria, and 
striving to wrest Silesia from the realms of Maria Theresa, was 
co-operating, in the most effectual way possible, to further the 
designs of France. And it had now also become a matter of 
great moment to Frederick that he should secure the alliance of 
the court of Versailles. 

All the courts of Europe were involved in these intrigues, 
which led to minor complications which it would be in vain to 
attempt to unravel. In the secret treaty into which Frederick 
entered with France on the 5th of June, 1741, the Count of Belle- 
isle engaged, in behalf of his master, Louis XV., to incite Sweden 
to declare war against Russia, that the semi-barbaric power of 
the North, just beginning to emerge into greatness, might be so 
occupied as not to be able to render any assistance to Austria. 
France also agreed to guarantee Lower Silesia, with Breslau, to 
Frederick, and to send two armies, of forty thousand men each, 
one across the Upper and the other across the Lower Rhine, to 
co-operate with his Prussian majesty. The forty thousand men 
on the Upper Rhine were to take position in the vicinity of the 
Electorate of Hanover, which belonged to George II. of England, 
prepared to act immediately in concert with the Prussian army 
at Gotten under the " Old Dessauer," in seizing Hanover resist- 
lessly, should England make the slightest move toward sending 
troops to the aid of Maria Theresa. 

The prospects of Maria Theresa seemed now quite desperate. 
We know not that history records a more inglorious act than 
that Europe should have thus combined to take advantage of 
the youth and inexperience of this young queen, weeping over 
the grave of her father, and trembling in view of her own ap- 
proaching hour of anguish, by wresting from her the inheritance 
which had descended to her from her ancestors. France and 



272 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



Germany, inspired by the most intense motives of selfish ambi- 
tion, were to fall upon her, while the most effectual precautions 
were adopted to prevent Russia and England from coming to 
her aid. 

In carrying forward these intrigues at the camp of Frederick, 
the Count of Belleisle had an associate minister in the embassy, 
M. De Valori. A slight incident occurred in connection with 
this minister which would indicate, in the view of most persons, 
that Frederick did not cherish a very high sense of honor. M. 
Valori was admitted to an audience with his Prussian majesty. 
During the interview, as the French minister drew his hand from 
his pocket, he accidentally dropped a note upon the floor. Fred- 
erick, perceiving it, slyly placed his foot upon it. As soon as the 
minister had bowed himself out, Frederick eagerly seized the 




FREDERICKS INTERVIEW WITH VALORI. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 273 

note and read it. It contained some secret instructions to M. 
Valori from the French court, directing him not to give Grlatz 
to his Prussian majesty if it could possibly be avoided. Freder- 
ick did not perceive any thing ignoble in this act of his, for he 
records it himself;* neither does Mr. Carlyle condemn him.f 
Most readers will probably regard it as highly dishonorable. 

On the 8th of June the English and Dutch ministers, not yet 
aware of the alliance into which Frederick had entered with 
France, presented the joint resolution of their two courts, exhort- 
ing Frederick to withdraw his army from Silesia. Lord Hynd- 
ford, who was somewhat annoyed by the apparent impolicy of 
the measure just at that time, solicited and obtained a private 
audience with the king, hoping by apologies and explanations 
to make the summons a little less unpalatable to his majesty. 
In the brief interview which ensued Lord Hyndford appealed to 
the magnanimity of the king, declaring that it would be gener- 
ous and noble for him to accept moderate terms from Austria. 
The king angrily interrupted him, saying, 

"My lord, do not talk to me of magnanimity. A prince ought, 
in the first place, to consult his interest. I am not opposed to 
peace. But I expect to have four duchies given me." 

Maria Theresa was much encouraged by the subsidy she had 
received from England. She was not yet informed of the for- 
midable alliance into which France, with a portion of Germany, 
had entered for her destruction. About the 20th of June she 
left Vienna for Presburg, in Hungary, a drive of about fifty miles. 
Here, on the 25th of June, 1741, she was crowned Queen of 
Hungary. She was a very beautiful woman in person, devout 
in spirit, and those who admire manly developments in the fe- 
male character must regard her as presenting the highest type 
of womanhood. She merits the following beautiful tribute to 
her worth from the pen of Carlyle : 

" As to the brave young Queen of Hungary, my admiration 
goes with that of all the world. Not in the language of flattery, 
but of evident fact, the royal qualities abound in that high 

* (Euvres de Frederic, t. xi., p. 90. 

t "Valori was one night with him, and, on rising to take leave, the fat hand, sticking proba- 
bly in the big waistcoat pocket, twitched out a little diplomatic-looking Note, which Frederick, 
with gentle adroitness (permissible in such circumstances), set his foot upon, till Valori had bow- 
ed himself out. " — Carlyle, vol. iii., p. 330. 

s 



274 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

young lady. Had they left the world, and grown to mere cos- 
tume elsewhere, you might find certain of them again here. 
Most brave, high and pious minded ; beautiful too, and radiant 
with good-nature, though of temper that will easily catch fire ; 
there is, perhaps, no nobler woman then living. And she fronts 
the roaring elements in a truly grand, feminine manner, as if 
Heaven itself and the voice of Duty called her. ' The inherit- 
ances which my fathers left me, we will not part with these. 
Death if it so must be, but not dishonor.' 

" This, for the present, is her method of looking at the matter; 
this magnanimous, heroic, and occasionally somewhat female one. 
Her husband, the grand-duke, an inert but good-tempered, well- 
conditioned duke, after his sort, goes with her. Now, as always, 
he follows loyally his wife's lead, never she his. Wife being in- 
trinsically as well as extrinsically the better man, what other 
can he do ?" 

The ceremony of coronation was attended, near Presburg, on 
the 25th of June, with much semi-barbaric splendor, as the Iron 
Crown* of St. Stephen was placed upon the pale, beautiful brow 
of the young wife and mother. All the renowned chivalry of 
Hungary were assembled upon that field. They came in gor- 
geous costume, with embroidered banners, and accompanied by 
imposing retinues. At the close of the ceremonies, the queen, 
who was distinguished as a bold rider, mounted a swift charger, 
and, followed by a long retinue of Magyar warriors, galloped to 
the top of a small eminence artificially constructed for the occa- 
sion, called the Konigsburg, or King's Hill, where she drew her 
sword, and, flourishing it toward the four quarters of the heav- 
ens, bade defiance to any adversary who should venture to ques- 
tion her claims. The knightly warriors who crowded the plain 
flashed their swords in the sunlight, as with one accord, with 
chivalric devotion, they vowed fidelity to their queen. 

* The Iron Crown. It was so called because there was entwined, amidst its priceless gems 
and exquisitely wrought frosted gold, some iron wire, said to be drawn from one of the spikes 
which had been driven through one of the hands of our Savior. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 275 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE CONQUEST OF SILESIA. 



An extraordinary Interview. — Carlyle's Sympathy. — Trifling Demeanor of Frederick. — Conspir- 
acy in Breslau. — Guile of Frederick. — The successful Stratagem. — Crossing the Neisse. — 
The Co-operation of France. — Anguish of Maria Theresa. — Inflexible Will of Frederick. — 
Duplicity of the King. — The Surrender of Neisse. 

Gradually the secret treaty which allied France, Bavaria, and 
Prussia, and it was not known how many other minor powers, 
against Austria, came to light. Two French armies of fifty thou- 
sand men each were on the march to act in co-operation with 
Frederick. England, trembling from fear of the loss of Hanover, 
dared not move. The Aulic Council at Vienna, in a panic, " fell 
back into their chairs like dead men." The ruin of Maria The- 
resa and the fatal dismemberment of Austria seemed inevitable. 

Under these circumstances, the young queen, urged by her 
council and by the English court, very reluctantly consented to 
propose terms of compromise to Frederick. Sir Thomas Kobin- 
son,. subsequently Earl of Grantham, was sent from Vienna to 
Breslau to confer with the British minister there, Lord Hynd- 
ford, and with him to visit Frederick, at his camp at Strehlen, 
in the attempt to adjust the difficulties. The curious interview 
which ensued has been minutely described by Sir Thomas Bob- 
inson. It took place under the royal canvas tent of his Prussian 
majesty at 11 o'clock A.M. of the 7th of August, 1741. 

The two English gentlemen, stout, burly, florid men, were 
dressed in the gorgeous court costume of those days. Each 
wore a large, frizzled, powdered wig. Their shirts were heavily 
ruffled in the bosoms and at the wrists. Their coats, of antique 
cut, were covered with embroidery of gold lace. Their waist- 
coats hung down in deep flaps, and large buckles adorned their 
shoes. 

Frederick was a trig, slender young man of twenty-nine years. 
He was dressed in a closely-fitting blue coat, with buff breeches 
and high cavalry boots. He wore a plumed hat, which he court- 
eously raised as the embassadors entered his tent. The scene 



276 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



which ensued was substantially as follows, omitting those pas- 
sages which were of no permanent interest. After sundry pre- 
liminary remarks, Sir Thomas Robinson said, 

" I am authorized to offer your majesty two million guilders 
[$1,000,000] if your majesty will consent to relinquish this en- 
terprise and retire from Silesia." 

" Retire from Silesia !" exclaimed the king, vehemently. " And 




FREDERICK AND THE BRITISH MINISTERS. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 277 

for money ? Do you take me for a beggar ? Retire from Sile- 
sia, in the conquest of which I have expended so much blood 
and treasure ! No, sir, no. That is not to be thought of. If 
you have no better proposals to suggest, it is not worth while 
talking." 

Sir Thomas, somewhat discomposed, apologetically intimated 
that that was not all he had to offer. 

"Very well," said the king, impatiently; "let us see, then, what 
there is more." 

"I am permitted," the embassador said, " to offer your majesty 
the whole of Austrian Guelderland. It lies contiguous to your 
majesty's possessions in the Rhine country. It will be a very 
important addition to those possessions. I am permitted to say 
the whole of Austrian Guelderland." 

" What do you mean ?" exclaimed the king, with an air of real 
or affected surprise. Then, turning to his secretary, M.Podewils, 
he inquired, " How much of Guelderland is theirs, and not ours 
already V 

" Almost none," M. Podewils replied. 

Here the king quite lost his temper. In a loud tone and with 
angry gesticulation he exclaimed, " Do you offer me such rags 
and rubbish, such paltry scrapings, for all my just claims in Si- 
lesia V And so he ran on for quite a length of time, with ever- 
increasing violence, fanning himself into a flame of indignation. 

" His contempt," writes Sir Thomas in his narrative, " was so 
great, and was expressed in such violent terms, that now, if ever, 
was the time to make the last effort. A moment longer was not 
to be lost, to hinder the king from dismissing us." 

"I am also permitted, sire," said Sir Thomas, "to add the Duchy 
of Limburg. It is a duchy of great wealth and resources, so val- 
uable that the -Elector Palatine was willing to give in exchange 
for it the whole Duchy of Berg." 

" It is inconceivable to me," Frederick replied, " how Austria 
should dare to think of such a proposal. Limburg ! Are there 
not solemn engagements upon Austria which render every inch 
of ground in the Netherlands inalienable ?" 

" These engagements," said Sir Thomas, " are good as against 
the French, your majesty. But the Barrier treaty, confirmed at 
Utrecht, was for our benefit and that of Holland." 



278 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" That is your interpretation," said Frederick. " But the 
French assert that it was an arrangement made in their favor." 

" Your majesty," Sir Thomas rejoined, " by a little engineering 
art, could render Limburg impregnable to the French or any 
others." 

"I have not the least desire," the king replied, " to aggrandize 
myself in those parts, or to spend money in fortifying there. It 
would be useless to me. Am I not fortifying Brieg and Glogau ? 
These are enough for one who wishes to live well with his neigh- 
bors. Neither the Dutch nor the French have offended me, nor 
will I offend them by acquisitions in the Netherlands. Besides, 
who would guarantee them ?'- 

" The proposal," Sir Thomas replied, " is to give guarantees at 
once." 

" Guarantees !" exclaimed the king, scornfully. " Who minds 
or keeps guarantees in this age? Has not France guaranteed 
the Pragmatic Sanction ? Has not England ? Why do you not 
all fly to the queen's succor ?" 

Sir Thomas, who was not aware of the engagement into which 
the allies had entered to keep Bussia busy by a war with Swe- 
den, intimated that there were powers which might yet come to 
the rescue of the queen, and mentioned Bussia as one. 

The king, with a very complaisant smile, said, " Bussia, my 
good sir — It is not proper for me to explain myself, but I have 
means to keep the Bussians employed." 

" Bussia," added Sir Thomas, with some stateliness of utter- 
ance, " is not the only power which has engagements with Aus- 
tria, and which must keep them too ; so that, however averse to 
a breach — " 

Here the king interrupted him, and with scornful gesture, " lay- 
ing his finger on his nose," and in loud tones, exclaimed, 

" No threats, sir, if you please, no threats." 

Lord Hyndford here came to the rescue of his colleague, and 
said, meekly, 

"I am sure his excellency had no such meaning, ^sire. His 
excellency will advance nothing so very contrary to his instruc- 
tions." 

Sir Thomas Bobinson added, " Sire, I am not talking of what 
this power or that means to do, but of what will come of itself. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 279 

To prophesy is not to threaten, sire. It is my zeal for the pub- 
lic good which brought me here, and — " 

Again the king interrupted him, saying, " The public will be 
much obliged to you, sir ! But hear me. With respect to Rus- 
sia, you know how matters stand. From the King of Poland I 
have nothing to fear. As for the King of England, he is my re- 
lation. If he do not attack me, I shall not him. If he do attack 
me, the Prince of Anhalt, with my army at Gotten, will take 
care of him." 

" It is the common rumor now," Sir Thomas replied, " that 
your majesty, after the 12th of August, will join the French. 
Sire, I venture to hope not. Austria prefers your friendship ; 
but if your majesty disdain Austria's advances, what is it to do? 
Austria must throw itself entirely into the hands of France, and 
endeavor to outbid your majesty." 

This was a very serious suggestion. None of these sovereigns 
professed to be influenced by any other considerations than their 
own interests. And it was manifest that Austria could easily 
outbid Prussia, if determined to purchase the French alliance. 
For a moment the king was silent, apparently somewhat per- 
plexed. He then said, 

" I am at the head of an army which has already vanquished 
the enemy, and which is ready to meet the enemy again. The 
country which alone I desire is already conquered and securely 
held. This is alii want. I now have it. I will and must keep 
it. Shall I be bought out of this country ? Never ! I will 
sooner perish in it with all my troops. With what face shall I 
meet my ancestors if I abandon my right which they have trans- 
mitted to me? My first enterprise, and to be given up lightly? 

" Have I need of peace ? Let those who need it give me what 
I want, or let them fight me again and be beaten again. Have 
they not given whole kingdoms to Spain ? And to me they can 
not spare a few trifling principalities. If the queen do not now 
grant me all I require, I shall, in four weeks, demand four prin- 
cipalities more. I now demand the whole of Lower Silesia, Bres- 
lau included. With that answer you can return to Vienna." 

"With that answer!" Sir Thomas replied, in tones of surprise. 
"Is your majesty serious? Is that your majesty's deliberate 
answer ?" 



2S0 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" Yes, I say," the king rejoined. " That is my answer, and I 
will never give any other." 

Both of the English ministers, in much agitation, spoke to- 
gether. The king, impatiently interrupting them, said, 

" Gentlemen, gentlemen, it is of no use to think about it." 

Taking off his hat, he slightly saluted them, and retired be- 
hind the curtain into the interior tent. 

A brief account of this interview has been given by Frederick,* 
and also a very minute narrative by Sir Thomas Eobinson, in 
his official report to his government. There is no essential dis- 
crepancy between the two statements. Frederick alludes rather 
contemptuously to the pompous airs of Sir Thomas, saying that 
" he negotiated in a wordy, high, droning way, as if he were 
speaking in Parliament." Mr. Carlyle seems to be entirely in 
sympathy with Frederick in his invasion of Silesia. The reader 
will peruse with interest his graphic, characteristic comments 
upon this interview : 

" The unsuccessfulest negotiation well imaginable by a public 
man. Strehlen, Monday, 7th August, 1741 — Frederick has van- 
ished into the interior of his tent, and the two diplomatic geotle- 
.men, the wind struck out of them in this manner, remain gazing 
at one another. Here, truly, is a young, royal gentleman that 
knows his own mind, while so many do not. Unspeakable im- 
broglio of negotiations, mostly insane, welters over all the earth ; 
the Belleisles, the Aulic Councils, the British Georges, heaping 
coil upon coil ; and here, notably in that now so extremely sor- 
did murk of wiggeries, inane diplomacies, and solemn deliriums, 
dark now and obsolete to all creatures, steps forth one litle hu- 
man figure, with something of sanity in it, like a star, like a 
gleam of steel, sheering asunder your big balloons, and letting 
out their diplomatic hydrogen. Salutes with his hat, ' Gentle- 
men, gentlemen, it is of no use !' and vanishes into the interior 
of his tent." 

The next day the two British ministers dined with Frederick. 

The king was in reality, or assumed to be, in exultant spirits. 

. He joked and bantered his guests even upon those great issues 

' which were threatening to deluge Europe in blood. As they 

took leave, intending to return to Vienna through Neisse, which 

* CEuvres de Frederic, vol. ii., p. 84. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 281 

was held by the Austrian army, the king said to Sir Thomas 
Robinson, derisively, 

"As you pass through Neisse, please present my compliments 
to Marshal Neipperg ; and you can say, your excellency, that I 
hope to have the pleasure of calling upon him one of these days." 

It seemed to be the policy of Frederick to assume a very tri- 
fling, care-for-nothing air, as though he were engaged in very 
harmless child's play. He threw out jokes, and wrote ludicrous 
letters to M. Jordan and M. Algarotti. But behind this exte- 
rior disguise it is manifest that all the energies of his soul were 
aroused, and that, with sleepless vigilance, he was watching every 
event, and providing for every possible emergence. 

It will be remembered that Breslau, whose inhabitants were 
mainly Protestant, and which was one of the so-called free cities 
of Germany, was surrendered to Frederick under peculiar condi- 
tions. It was to remain, in its internal government, in all re- 
spects exactly as it had been, with the simple exception that it 
was to recognize the sovereignty of Prussia instead of that of 
Austria. Its strict neutrality was to be respected. It was to 
be protected by its own garrison. No Prussian soldier could 
enter with any weapons but side-arms. The king himself, in en- 
tering the city, could be accompanied only by thirty guards. 

When under the sovereignty of Austria, though the Protest- 
ants were not persecuted, very decided favor was shown to the 
Catholics. But the influence of Protestant Prussia was to. place 
both parties on a perfect equality. This greatly annoyed the 
Catholics. Certain Catholic ladies of rank, with a few leading 
citizens, entered into a secret society, and kept the court of Vi- 
enna informed of every thing which transpired in Breslau. They 
also entered into intimate communication with General Neip- 
perg, entreating him to come to their rescue. They assured him 
that if he would suddenly appear before their gates with his 
army, or with a strong detachment, the conspiring Catholics 
would open the gates, and he could rush in and take possession 
of the city. 

But the ever- vigilant Frederick had smuggled a " false sister" 
into the society of the Catholic ladies, who kept him informed 
of every measure that was proposed. At the very hour when 
Frederick was dining with the two English ministers, and mak- 



282 FKEDERICK THE GREAT. 

ing himself so merry with jests and banter, he was aware that 
General Neipperg, with the whole Austrian army, was crossing 
the Kiver Neisse, on the march, by a route thirty miles west of 
his encampment, to take Breslau by surprise. But he had al- 
ready adopted effectual measures to thwart their plans. 

On the 10th of August there was a magnificent review of the 
Prussian army on the plain of Strehlin, to which all the foreign 
embassadors were invited. During the night of the 9th, Gen- 
eral Schwerin and Prince Leopold, with eight thousand Prussian 
troops, horse and foot, arrived in the southwestern suburbs of 
Breslau, and, at six o'clock in the morning, demanded simply a 
passage through the city for their regiments and baggage, on the 
march to attack a marauding band of the Austrians on the other 
side of the Oder. 

The rule, in such cases, was that a certain number of companies 
were to be admitted at a time. The gate was then to be closed 
until they had marched through the city and out at the oppo- 
site gate. After this another detachment was to be admitted, 
and so on, until all had passed through. But General Schwerin 
so contrived it, by stratagem, as to crowd in a whole regiment at 
once. Instead of marching through Breslau, to the surprise of 
the inhabitants, he directed his steps to the market-place, where 
he encamped and took possession of the city, admitting the re- 
mainder of his regiments. In an hour and a half the whole thing 
was done, and the streets were strongly garrisoned by Prussian 
troops. The majority of the inhabitants, being Protestant, were 
well pleased, and received the achievement with laughter. , Many 
cheers resounded through the streets, with shouts of " Frederick 
and Silesia forever." All the foreign ministers in Breslau, and 
the magistrates of the city, had been lured to Strehlin to wit- 
ness the grand review. v 

Frederick had caused signal cannon to be placed at suitable 
points between Breslau and Strehlin, which, by transmitting re- 
ports, should give him as early intelligence as possible of the 
success of the enterprise. About noon, in the midst of the grand 
manoeuvrings on the parade-ground, one distant cannon-shot was 
heard, to the great satisfaction of Frederick, who alone under- 
stood its significance. 

General Neipperg had advanced as far as Baumgarten when 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 283 

he heard of this entire circumvention of his plans. Exasperated 
by the discomfiture, he pushed boldly forward to seize Schweid- 
nitz, where Frederick had a large magazine, which was supposed 
not to be very strongly protected. But the vigilant Frederick 
here again thwarted the Austrian general. Either anticipating 
the movement, or receiving immediate information of it, he had 
thrown out some strong columns to Reichenbach, where they so 
effectually intrenched themselves as to bar, beyond all hope of 
passage, the road to Schweidnitz. General Neipperg had ad- 
vanced but half a day's march from Baumgarten when he heard 
of this. He ordered a halt, and retraced his steps as far as Frank- 
enstein, where he had a very strongly intrenched camp. 

Frederick soon followed the Austrians with his whole army, 
hoping to bring them to a decisive battle. But General Neip- 
perg was conscious that he was unable to cope with the Prus- 
sian army in the open field. For a week there was manoeuvring 
and counter-manoeuvring with great skill on both sides, General 
Neipperg baffling all the endeavors of Frederick to bring him to 
a general action. 

At length Frederick, weary of these unavailing efforts, dashed 
off in rapid march toward the River Neisse, and with his van- 
guard, on the 11th of September, crossed the river at the little 
town of Woitz, a few miles above the city. The river was speed- 
ily spanned with his pontoon bridges. As the whole army hur- 
ried forward to effect the passage, Frederick, to his surprise, found 
the Austrian army directly before him, occupying a position from 
which it could not be forced, and where it could not be turned. 
For two days Frederick very earnestly surveyed the region, and 
then, recrossing the river and gathering in his pontoons, passed 
rapidly down the stream on the left or northern bank, and, after 
a brief encampment of a few days, crossed the river fifteen miles 
below the city. He then threw his army into the rear of Neip- 
perg's, so as to cut off his communications and his daily convoys 
of food. He thus got possession again of Oppeln, of the strong 
castle of Friedland, and of the country generally between the 
Oder and the Neisse rivers. 

General Neipperg cautiously advanced toward him, and en- 
camped in the vicinity of Steinau — the same Steinau which but 
a few weeks before had been laid in ashes as the Prussian troops 



284 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

passed through it. The two armies were now separated from 
each other but by an interval of about five miles. The country 
was flat, and it was not probable that the contest which Freder- 
ick so eagerly sought could long be avoided. 

Affairs were now assuming throughout Europe a very threat- 
ening aspect. The two French armies, of forty thousand each, 
had already crossed the Rhine to join their German allies in the 
war against Austria. One of these armies, to be commanded by 
Belleisle, had crossed the river about thirty miles below Stras- 
bourg to unite with the Elector of Bavaria's troops and march 
upon Vienna. The other army, under Maillebois, had crossed 
the Lower Rhine a few miles below Dlisseldorf. Its mission 
was, as we have mentioned, to encamp upon the frontiers of Han- 
over, prepared to invade that province, in co-operation with the 
Prussian troops in the camp at Grottin, should the King of En- 
gland venture to raise a hand in behalf of Austria. It was also 
in position to attack and overwhelm Holland, England's only 
ally, should that power manifest the slightest opposition to the 
designs of Prussia and France. At the same time, Sweden, on 
the 4th of August, had declared war against Russia, so that no 
help could come to Austria from that quarter. Great diplo- 
matic ability had been displayed in guarding every point in these 
complicated measures. The French minister, Belleisle, was prob- 
ably the prominent agent in these wide-spread combinations* 

The queen, Maria Theresa, still remained at Presburg, in her 
Hungarian kingdom. The Aulic Council was with her. On 
the loth of August Sir Thomas Robinson had returned to Pres- 
burg with the intelligence of his unsuccessful mission, and of the 
unrelenting determination of Frederick to prosecute the war 
with the utmost vigor unless Silesia were surrendered to him. 

These tidings struck the Austrian council with consternation. 
The French armies were declared to be the finest that had ever 
taken the field. The Prussian army, in stolid bravery and per- 

* "Sure enough, the Sea Powers are checkmated now. Let them make the least attempt in 
favor of the queen if they dare. Holland can be overrun from Osnabriick quarter at a day's 
warning. Little George has his Hanoverians, his subsidized Hessians, Danes, in Hanover ; his 
English on Lexden Heath. Let him come one step over the marches, Maillebois and the Old 
Dessauer swallow him. It is a surprising stroke of theatrical-practical Art, brought about, to 
old Fleury's sorrow, by the genius of Belleisle, and they say of Madame Chateauroux; enough 
to strike certain Governing Persons breathless for some time, and denotes that the Universal 
Hurricane, or World Tornado has broken out." — Carlyle, vol. iii., p. 357. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 285 

fection of discipline, had never been surpassed. Germany was 
to be cut into four equal parts, and France was to be the sover- 
eign power on the Continent. 

In this terrible emergence, the queen, resolute as she was, was 
almost compelled, by the importunity of her counselors, to per- 
mit Sir Thomas Eobinson, who was acting for England far more 
than for Austria, to go back to Frederick with the offer so hu- 
miliating to her, that she would surrender to him one half of Si- 
lesia if he would withdraw his armies and enter into an alliance 
with her against the French. The high-spirited queen wrung 
her hands in anguish as she assented to this decision, exclaiming 
passionately, 

" If these terms are not accepted within a fortnight, I will not 
be bound by them." 

Sir Thomas hastened back to Breslau, and anxiously entered 
into communication with Lord Hyndford. The British minister 
entreated the king to admit Sir Thomas to another interview, 
assuring him that he came with new and more liberal proposi- 
tions for a compromise. The king replied, in substance, with his 
customary brusqueness, 

" I will not see him. I wish to listen to no more of his offers. 
The sooner he takes himself away the better." 

Sir Thomas, deeply chagrined, hastened back to Presburg. 
Acting in behalf of the English cabinet, he trembled in view of 
the preponderance of the French court and of the loss of Han- 
over. With the most impassioned earnestness he entreated the 
queen to yield to the demands of Frederick, and thus secure his 
alliance. 

"High madam," he said, fervently, " at this crisis, alliance with 
Frederick is salvation to Austria. His continued hostility is ut- 
ter ruin. England can not help your majesty. The slightest 
endeavor would cause the loss of Hanover." 

Thus pressed by England, and with equal earnestness by her 
own Aulic Council, the queen again yielded, though almost fran- 
tic with grief, and consented to surrender the whole of Lower 
Silesia to Frederick if he would become her ally. As Frederick 
had offered these terms, it was supposed, of course, that he would 
accept them. Sir Thomas was again dispatched, at the top of 
his speed, to convey them to the camp of Frederick. But the 



286 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

repulse of the king was peremptory and decisive. To Lord 
Hyndford, soliciting an audience for the envoy, he replied, 

" I will not see him. There was a time when I would have 
listened to a compromise. That time has passed. I have now 
entered into arrangements with France. Talk to me no more." 

Sir Thomas hastened back to Presburg in despair. Feeling 
the " game was up," and that there was no more hope, he asked 
permission to return home. The British cabinet was in a state 
of consternation. France, the dreaded rival of England, was at- 
taining almost sovereign power over the Continent of Europe. 
Frederick himself was uneasy. He had sufficient penetration to 
be fully aware that he was aiding to create a resistless power, 
which might, by-and-by, crush him. Sir Thomas, in a state of 
great agitation, which was manifest in his disordered style, wrote 
from Presburg to Lord Hyndford at Breslau as follows. The 
letter was dated September 8, 1741. 

" My lord, I could desire your lordship to summon up, if it 
were necessary, the spirit of all your lordship's instructions, and 
the sense of the king, of the Parliament, and of the whole British 
nation. It is upon this great moment that depends the fate, not 
of the house of Austria, not of the empire, but of the house of 
Brunswick, of Great Britain, of all Europe. I verily believe the 
King of Prussia himself does not know the extent of the present 
danger. With whatever motive he may act, there is not one, 
not that of the wildest resentment, that can blind him to this 
degree — of himself perishing in the ruin he is bringing upon 
others. With his concurrence, the French will, in less than six 
weeks, be masters of the German empire. The weak Elector of 
Bavaria is but their instrument. Prague and Vienna may, and 
probably will, be taken in that short time. Will even the King 
of Prussia himself be reserved to the last ?" 

These considerations probably weighed heavily upon the mind 
of Frederick; for, after having so peremptorily repulsed the 
queen's messenger, he sent, on the 9th of September, Colonel 
Golt2 with a proposition to Lord Hyndford, which was substan- 
tially the same which the queen in her anguish had consented 
to make. The strictest secrecy was enjoined upon Colonel Goltz. 
The proposition was read from a paper without signature, and 
was probably in the king's handwriting, for Lord Hyndford was 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 287 

not permitted to see the paper. He took a copy from dictation, 
which was as follows : 

" The whole of Lower Silesia ; the River Neisse for the bound- 
ary ; the city of Neisse for us, as also Grlutz ; on the other side 
of the Oder, the ancient boundary between the Duchies of Brieg 
and Oppeln. Namslau for us. The affairs of religion in statu 
quo. No dependence upon Bohemia. Cession eternal. In ex- 
change we will go no farther. We will besiege Neisse for form. 
The commandant shall surrender and depart. We will quietly 
go into winter quarters ; and they (the Austrians) can take their 
army where they will. Let all be finished in twelve days." 

But Frederick did not seem to think himself at all bound by 
his treaty obligations with France to refrain from entering into 
secret arrangements with the foe which would promote his in- 
terests, however antagonistic those arrangements might be to his 
assumed obligations. He was the ally of France in the attempt 
to wrest territory from the young Queen of Austria, and to 
weaken her power. His armies and those of France were acting 
in co-operation. Frederick now proposed to the common enemy 
that, if Silesia were surrendered to him, he would no longer act 
in co-operation with his ally ; but, that France might not dis- 
cover his perfidy, he would still pretend to make war. The 
Austrians were to amuse themselves in defending Neisse from a 
sham siege until the pleasant weeks of autumn were gone, and 
then they were to march, with all their guns and ammunition, 
south to Vienna, there to fight the French. Frederick, still as- 
suming that he was the ally of France, was to avail himself of 
the excuse that the season of ice and snow was at hand, and 
withdraw into winter quarters. Such, in general, were the terms » 
which Frederick authorized his minister, Goltz, to propose to 
Lord Hyndford, as the agent of England and Austria. 

Most of our readers will pronounce this to be as unwarranta- 
ble an act of perfidy as history has recorded. But, in justice to 
Frederick, we ought to state that there are those who, while ad- 
mitting all these facts, do not condemn him for his course. It is 
surprising to see how different are the opinions which intelligent 
men can form upon the same actions. Mr. Carlyle writes, in ref- 
erence to these events : 
, " Magnanimous I can by no means call Frederick to his allies 



288 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

and neighbors, nor even superstitiously veracious in this busi- 
ness ; but he thoroughly understands, he alone, what just thing 
he wants out of it, and what an enormous wigged mendacity it 
is he has got to deal with. For the rest, he is at the gaming-ta- 
ble with these sharpers, their dice all cogged, and he knows it, 
and ought to profit by his knowledge of it, and, in short, to win 
his stake out of that foul, weltering melley, and go home safe 
with it if he can." 

While these scenes of war and intrigue were transpiring, no 
one knowing what alarming developments any day might pre- 
sent, Vienna was thrown into a state of terror in apprehension 
of the immediate approach of a French army to open upon it all 
the horrors of a bombardment. The citizens were called out en 
masse to work upon the fortifications. The court fled to Pres- 
burg, in Hungary. The national archives were hurried off to 
Gratz. The royal family was dispersed. There were but six 
thousand troops in the city. General Neipperg, with nearly the 
whole Austrian army, was a hundred and fifty miles distant to 
the north, on the banks of the Neisse. The queen, on the 10th 
of September, assembled at Presburg the Hungarian Parliament, 
consisting almost exclusively of chivalric nobles renowned in 
war. The queen appeared before them with her husband, the 
Grand-duke Francis, by her side, and with a nurse attending, 
holding her infant son and heir. Addressing them in Latin, in 
a brief, pathetic speech, she said : 

"I am abandoned by all. Hostile invasion threatens the 
kingdom of Hungary, our person, our children, our crown. I 
have no resource but in your fidelity and valor. I invoke the 
ancient Hungarian virtue to rise swiftly and save me." 

The queen was radiantly beautiful in form and features. ' Her 
eyes were filled with tears. The scene and the words roused 
the zeal of these wild Magyar warriors to the highest pitch. 
They drew their sabres, flourished them over their heads, and 
with united voice shouted Moriamur pro nostro rege, Maria 
Theresa — " Let us die for our king, Maria Theresa." " They al- 
ways," writes Voltaire, " give the title of king to their queen. 
In fact, no princess ever better deserved that title." 

Between the two camps of the Austrians and Prussians, south 
of the River Neisse, there was a castle called Little Schnellen- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



289 




THE QUEEN S APPEAL TO THE HUNGARIAN NOBLES. 

dorf, belonging to Count Von Steinberg. It was a very retired 
retreat, far from observation. Arrangements were made for a 
secret meeting there between Frederick and General Neipperg, 
to adjust the details of their plot. It was of the utmost import- 
ance that the perfidious measure should be concealed from France. 
The French minister, Valori, was in the Prussian camp, watching 
every movement with an eagle eye. "Frederick," writes Car- 
lyle, " knows that the French are false to him. He by no means 

T 



290 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



intends to be romantically true to them, and that they also 
know." 

On Monday morning, the 9th of October, 1741, the British 
minister, Lord Hyndford, accompanied by General Neipperg and 
General Lentulus from the Austrian camp, repaired to this cas- 
tle, ostensibly to fix some cartel for the exchange of prisoners. 
Frederick rode out that morning with General Goltz, assuming 
that he was going to visit some of his outposts. In leaving, he 
said to the French minister Valori, " I am afraid that I shall not 
be home to dinner." At the same time, to occupy the attention 
of M. Valori, he was invited to dine with Prince Leopold. By 
circuitous and unfrequented paths, the king and his companion 
hied to the castle. 




THE KING APPROACHING SCHNELLENDORF. 



Frederick cautiously refused to sign his name to any paper. 
Verbally, he agreed that in one week from that time,£>n the 16th, 
General Neipperg should have liberty to retire to the south 
through the mountains, unmolested save by sham attacks in his 
rear. A small garrison was to be left in Neisse. After main- 
taining a sham siege for a fortnight, they were to surrender the 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 291 

city. Sham hostilities, to deceive the French, were to be contin- 
ued until the year was out, and then a treaty was to be signed 
and ratified. 

His majesty pledged his word of honor that he would fulfill 
these obligations, but declared that, should the slightest intima- 
tion of the agreement leak out, so that the French should dis- 
cover it, he would deny the whole thing, and refuse in any way 
to be bound by it. This w T as assented to. 

At the close of the business, the king, who had been exceed- 
ingly courteous during the whole interview, took General Neip- 
perg aside, and, beckoning Lord Hyndford to join them, said, ad- 
dressing Lord Hyndford, 

" I wish you too, my lord, to hear every word I speak to Gen- 
eral Neipperg. His Britannic majesty knows, or should know, 
my intentions never were to do him hurt, but only to take care 
of myself. And pray inform him that I have ordered my army 
in Brandenburg to go into winter quarters, and break up that 
camp at Gottin." 

The reader will bear in mind that the camp at Gottin, men- 
acing Hanover, was acting in co-operation with Frederick's ally, 
France, and that forty thousand men had been sent from France 
to the aid of those Prussian troops. Frederick now, entering 
into secret treaty with the enemy, while still feigning to be true 
to his ally, was perfidiously withdrawing his troops so as to leave 
the French unsupported. His treachery went even farther than 
this. In the presence of Lord Hyndford, the representative of 
England, he informed the Austrian general minutely how he 
could, to the greatest advantage, attack the French. 

" Join," said he, " the Austrian force under Prince Lobkowitz in 
Bohemia. Fall immediately and impetuously upon the French, 
before they can combine their forces to resist you.' If you suc- 
ceed in this, perhaps I will by-and-by join you ; if you fail — 
well, you know every one must look out for himself." 

The audacious duplicity of this ambitious young king was 
still more conspicuously developed by his entering into a secret 
correspondence with the court of Austria, through certain gen- 
erals in the Austrian army. And that he might the more effect- 
ually disguise his treachery from his allies, the French, he re- 
quested Lord Hyndford to write dispatches to various courts — 



292 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

to Presburg, to England, to Dresden — complaining that Freder- 
ick was deaf to all proposals ; that nothing could influence him 
to enter into terms of reconciliation with Austria. It was to be 
so arranged that the couriers carrying these dispatches of false- 
hood should be captured by the French, so that these documents 
should be carried to the French court. 

And, in addition to all this, the more effectually to hoodwink 
the eagle eyes of the French minister in the Prussian camp, M. 
Valori, the following stratagem was arranged. The king was 
to invite M. Valori to dine with him. While at the table, merry 
over their wine, a courier was to arrive, and with trumpet blast 
announce dispatches for the king. They were to be delivered 
to the king at the table. He was to open them before Valori, 
to find that they consisted of a bitter complaint and remon- 
strance, on the part of the British minister, that the king was in- 
flexible in repelling all advances toward an amicable adjustment 
of their difficulties, that unrelentingly he persisted in co-operating 
with France in her warfare against Austria. All this farce took 
place according to the programme. M. Valori was effectually 
deceived. 

Some of our readers may think that the above narrative is 
quite incredible ; that a young sovereign, who had just written 
the Anti-Machiavel, and who knew that the eyes of the world 
were upon him, could not be guilty of such perfidy. But, unhap- 
pily, there is no possible room for doubt. The documentary evi- 
dence is ample. There is no contradictory testimony. 

General Neipperg, in his account of the interview, writes, in 
reference to Frederick : " He is a very spirited young king. He 
will not stand contradiction ; but a great deal may be made of 
him if you seem to adopt his ideas, and honor him in a delicate, 
dexterous way. He did not in the least hide his engagements 
with France, Bavaria, Saxony. But he would really, so far as I 
could judge, prefer friendship with Austria on the given terms. 
He seems to have a kind of pique at Saxony, and manifests no 
favor for the French and their plans." 

Mr. Carlyle, who, with wonderful accuracy, and with impar- 
tiality which no one will call in question, has recorded the facts 
in Frederick's career, gives the story as it is here told. In the 
following terms Mr. Carlyle comments upon these events : 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 293 

" Of the political morality of this game of fast-and-loose what 
have we to say, except that the dice on both sides seem to be 
loaded; that logic might be chopped upon it forever; that a 
candid mind will settle what degree of wisdom (which is always 
essential veracity) and what of folly (which is always falsity) 
there was in Frederick and the others ; whether, or to what de- 
gree, there was a better course open to Frederick in the circum- 
stances ; and, in fine, it will have to be granted that you can not 
work in pitch and keep hands evidently clean. Frederick has 
got into the enchanted wilderness populous with devils and their 
work, alas ! It will be long before he get out of it again ; his 
life waning toward night before he get victoriously out, and be- 
queath his conquest to luckier successors !" 

On the 16th of November General Neipperg broke up his 
camp at Neisse, according to the arrangement,, and, leaving a 
small garrison in the city to encounter the sham siege, defiled 
through the mountains on the south into Moravia. The Prus- 
sians, pretending to pursue, hung upon his rear for a short dis- 
tance, making as much noise and inflicting as little harm as pos- 
sible. General Neipperg pressed rapidly on to Vienna, where 
he was exultingly welcomed to aid in defending the city men- 
aced by the French. 

Frederick on the 17th, the day after the departure of the Aus- 
trian army, invested Neisse. He had an embarrassing part to 
play. He was to conduct a sham siege in the presence of M. 
Valori, who was not only a man of ability, but w T ho possessed 
much military intelligence. Feigning the utmost zeal, Frederick 
opened his trenches, and ostentatiously manoeuvred his troops. 
He sent the young Prince Leopold, with fifteen thousand horse 
and foot, into the Glatz country, many leagues to the east, to 
guard against surprise from an enemy, where no enemy was to be 
found. He marked out his parallels, sent imperious summonses 
for surrender, and dispatched reconnoitring parties abroad. M. 
Valori began to be surprised — amazed. "What does all this 
mean ?" he said to himself. " They have great need of some good 
engineers here. 1 ' 

With that vigilant eye upon him, Frederick was compelled to 
some vigor of action. On the night of October 17th he com- 
menced the bombardment. The noise was terrific. It could not 



294 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



be prevented but that the shot and shell should do some harm. 
Some buildings were burned ; several lives were lost. M. Va- 
lori, who knew that the result could not be doubtful, was in- 
duced to go to Breslau and await the surrender. After the gar- 
rison had made apparently a gallant resistance, and Frederick 
had achieved apparent prodigies of valor, the city was surren- 
dered on the 31st of October. Most of the garrison immediately 
enlisted in the Prussian service. 

Thus the last fortress in Silesia fell into the hands of Freder- 
ick. There was no longer any 




foe left in the province to dis- 
pute his acquisition. He took 
possession of Neisse on the 1st 
of November, celebrating his 
victory with illuminations and 
all the approved demonstra- 
tions of public rejoicing. 

On the 4th of November he 
returned to Breslau, entering 
the city with great military 
display. Seated in a splendid 
carriage, he was drawn through 
the streets by eight cream-col- 
ored horses. Taking his seat 
upon the ancient ducal throne, 
he was crowned, with great 
ceremonial pomp, Sovereign Duke of Lower Silesia. Four hun- 
dred of the notables of the dukedom, in gala dresses, and taking 
oaths of homage, contributed to the imposing effect of the spec- 
tacle. Illuminations, balls, and popular festivities, in great vari- 
ety, closed the triumph. 

On the morning of the 9th of November Frederick set out for 
Berlin, visiting Glogau by the way. On the 11th he entered 
Berlin, where he was received by the whole population with en- 
thusiastic demonstrations of joy. For a short time lie proba- 
bly thought that through guile he had triumphed, and that his 
troubles were now at an end. But such victories, under the 
providence of God, are always of short duration. Frederick 
soon found that his troubles had but just begun. He had en- 



MAP OF THE SECOND SILESIAN CAMPAIGN. 



FREDEKICK THE GREAT. , 295 

tered upon a career of toil, care, and peril, from which lie was to 
have no escape until he was ready to sink into his grave. 

But a few days after his return, Lord Hyndford, who had fol- 
lowed the king to Berlin, met his majesty in one of the apart- 
ments of the palace. Frederick, struggling to conceal the emo- 
tions with which he was agitated, said to him, 

"My lord, the court of Vienna has entirely divulged our se- 
cret. The Dowager Empress has acquainted the court of Bava- 
ria with it. Wasner, the Austrian minister at Paris, has com- 
municated it to the French minister, Fleury. The Austrian min- 
ister at St. Petersburg, M. Linzendorf, has told the court of Kus- 
sia of it. Sir Thomas Robinson has divulged it to the court of 
Dresden. Several members of the British government have 
talked about it publicly." 

Frederick immediately and publicly denied that he had ever 
entered into any such arrangement with Austria, and declared 
the whole story to be a mere fabrication. Having by the strata- 
gem obtained Neisse, and delivered Silesia from the presence of 
the Austrian army, he assured the French of his unchanging fidel- 
ity to their interests, and with renewed vigor commenced co-op- 
erating with them in the furtherance of some new ambitious 
plans. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CAMPAIGN OF MORAVIA. 



Frederick's Motives for the War. — Marriage of William Augustus. — Testimony of Lord Ma- 
caulay. — Frederick and his Allies. — Visit to Dresden. — Military Energy. — Charles Albert 
chosen Emperor. — The Coronation. — Effeminacy of the Saxon Princes.— Disappointment 
and Vexation of Frederick. — He withdraws in Chagrin. — The Cantonment on the Elbe. — 
Winter Campaigning. — The Concentration at Chrudim. 

It was on the 11th of November, 1741, that Frederick, elated 
with his conquest of Silesia, had returned to Berlin. In com- 
mencing the enterprise he had said, " Ambition, interest, and the. 
desire to make the world speak of me, vanquished all, and war 
was determined on." He had, indeed, succeeded in making the 
"world speak" of him. He had suddenly become the most 
prominent man in Europe. Some extolled his exploits. Some 
expressed amazement at his perfidy. Many, recognizing his sa- 



296 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



gacity and his tremendous energy, sought his alliance. Embas- 
sadors from the various courts of Europe crowded his capital. 
Fourteen sovereign princes, with many foreigners of the highest 
rank, were counted among the number. The king was in high 
spirits. While studiously maturing his plans for the future, he 
assumed the air of a thoughtless man of fashion, and dazzled the 
eyes and bewildered the minds of his guests with feasts and pa- 
geants. 

On the 7th of January, 1742, Frederick's eldest brother, Wil- 
liam Augustus, was married to Louisa Amelia, a younger sister 
of the king's neglected wife, Elizabeth. The king himself graced 




FREDERICK THE GREAT. ^T. 30. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 297 

the festival, in gorgeous attire, and very successfully plied all his 
wonderful arts of fascination. "He appeared," says Bielfeld, " so 
young, so gay, so graceful, that I could not have refrained from 
loving him, even if he had been a stranger." 

But, in the midst of these scenes of gayety, the king was con- 
templating the most complicated combinations of diplomacy. 
Europe was apparently thrown into a state of chaos. It was 
Frederick's one predominant thought to see what advantages he 
could secure to Prussia from the general wreck and ruin. Lord 
Macaulay, speaking of these scenes, says : 

" The selfish rapacity of the King of Prussia gave the signal 
to his neighbors. His example quieted their sense of shame. 
The whole world sprang to arms. On the head of Frederick is 
all the blood which was shed in a war which raged during many 
years, and in every quarter of the globe — the blood of the col- 
umn of Fontenoy, the blood of the brave mountaineers who were 
slaughtered at Culloden. The evils produced by this wicked- 
ness were felt in lands where the name of Prussia was unknown. 
In order that he might rob a neighbor whom he had promised 
to defend, black men fought on the coast of Coromandel, and red 
men scalped each other by the great lakes of North America." 

As we have stated, Frederick had declared that if any rumor 
should be spread abroad of the fact that he had entered into a 
secret treaty with Austria, he would deny it, and would no lon- 
ger pay any regard to its stipulations. He had adopted the pre- 
caution not to affix his signature to any paper. By this ignoble 
stratagem he had obtained Neisse and Silesia. The rumor of 
the secret treaty had gone abroad. He had denied it. And 
now, in accordance with the principles of his peculiar code of 
honor, he felt himself at liberty to pursue any course which pol- 
icy might dictate. 

Frederick, in his Histoire de mon Temps, states that, in the ne- 
gotiations which at this time took place in Berlin, France press- 
ed the king to bring forward his armies into vigorous co-opera- 
tion ; that England exhorted him to make peace with Austria ; 
that Spain solicited his alliance in her warfare against England ; 
that Denmark implored his counsel as to the course it was wise 
for that kingdom to pursue; that Sweden entreated his aid 
against Russia; that Russia besought his good offices to make 



298 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

peace with the court at Stockholm; and that the German em- 
pire, anxious for peace, entreated him to put an end to those 
troubles which were convulsing all Europe. 

The probable object of the Austrian court in revealing the se- 
cret treaty of Schnellendorf was to set Frederick and France at 
variance. Frederick, much exasperated, not only denied the 
treaty, but professed increased devotion to the interests of Louis 
XV. The allies, consisting of France, Prussia, Bavaria, and Sax- 
ony, now combined to wrest Moravia from Maria Theresa, and 
annex it to Saxony. This province, governed by a marquis, was 
a third larger than the State of Massachusetts, and contained a 
population of about a million and a half. Moravia bounded Si- 
lesia on the south. Frederick made a special treaty with the 
King of Saxony, that the southern boundary of Silesia should 
be a full German mile, which was between four and five English 
miles, beyond the line of the River Neisse. With Frederick's 
usual promptitude, he insisted that commissioners should be im- 
mediately sent to put down the boundary stones. France was 
surprised that the King of Saxony should have consented to the 
surrender of so important a strip of his territory. 

Frederick paid but little regard to his allies save as he could 
make them subservient to the accomplishment of his purposes. 
He pushed his troops forward many leagues south into Moravia, 
and occupied the important posts of Troppau, Friedenthal, and 
Olmtitz. These places were seized the latter part of December. 
The king hoped thus to be able, early in the spring, to carry the 
war to the gates of Vienna. 

On the 18th of January, 1742, Frederick visited Dresden, to 
confer with Augustus III., King of Poland, who was also Elec- 
tor of Saxony, and whose realms were to be increased by the 
annexation of Moravia. His Polish majesty was a weak man, 
entirely devoted to pleasure. His irresolute mind, subjected to 
the dominant energies of the Prussian king, was as clay in the 
hands of the potter. 

" You are now," said Frederick, " by consent of the allies, King 
of Moravia. Now is the time, now or never, to become so in 
fact. Push forward your Saxon troops. The Austrian forces 
are weak in that country. At Iglau, just over the border from 
Austria, there is a large magazine of military stores, which can 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 299 

easily be seized. Urge forward your troops. The French will 
contribute strong divisions. I will join you with twenty thou- 
sand men. We can at once take possession of Moravia, and per- 
haps march directly on to Vienna." 

Frederick, in describing this interview, writes : " Augustus an- 
swered yes to every thing, with an air of being convinced, joined 
to a look of great ennui. Count Bruhl,* whom this interview 
displeased, interrupted it by announcing to his majesty that the 
Opera was about to commence. Ten kingdoms to conquer would 
not have kept the King of Poland a minute longer. He went, 
therefore, to the Opera ; and the King of Prussia obtained at 
once, in spite of those who opposed it, a final decision."f 

The next morning, in the intense cold of midwinter, Frederick 
set out several hours before daylight for the city of Prague, 
which the French and Bavarians had captured on the 25th of 
November. Declining all polite attentions, for business was ur- 
gent, he eagerly sought M. De Sechelles, the renowned head of 
the commissariat department, and made arrangements with him 
to perform the extremely difficult task of supplying the army 
with food in a winter's campaign. 

The next morning, at an early hour, he again dashed off to the 
east, toward Glatz, a hundred miles distant, where a portion of 
the Prussian troops were in cantonments, under the young Prince 
Leopold. Within a week he had ridden over seven hundred 
miles, commencing his journey every morning as early as four 
o'clock, and doing a vast amount of business by the way. 
' It will be remembered that, in the note which M. Valori acci- 
dentally dropped,. and which Frederick furtively obtained, the 
minister was instructed by the French court not to give up Glatz 
to the Prussian king if he could possibly avoid it. But Fred- 
erick had now seized the city, and the region around, by force 

* Count Briihl was for many years the first minister of the king. He was a weak, extrava- 
gant man, reveling in voluptuousness. His decisions could always be controlled by an ample 
bribe. His sole object seemed to be his own personal luxurious indulgence. " Public affairs,'' 
he said, "will carry themselves on, provided we do not trouble ourselves about them." 

Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, in his letters from Dresden, writes : " Now, as every thing of 
every kind, from the highest affairs of the state down to operas and hunting, are all in Count 
Bruhl's immediate care, I leave you to judge how his post is executed. His expenses are im- 
mense. He keeps three hundred servants and as many horses. It is said, and I believe it, that 
he takes money for every thing the king disposes of in Poland, where they frequently have very 
great employments to bestow." f Histoire de mon Temps. 



300 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

of arms, and held them with a gripe not to be relaxed. Glatz 
was a Catholic town. In the convent there was an image of the 
Virgin, whose tawdry robes had become threadbare and faded. 
The wife of the Austrian commandant had promised the Virgin 
a new dress if she would keep the Prussians out of the city. 
Frederick heard of this. As he took possession of the city, with 
grim humor he assured the Virgin that she should not lose in 
consequence of the favor she had shown the Prussians. New 
and costly garments were immediately provided for her at the 
expense of the Prussian king. 

On the 26th of January Frederick set out from Glatz, with a 
strong cortege, for Olmtitz, far away to the southeast. This place 
his troops had occupied for a month past. His route led through 
a chain of mountains, whose bleak and dreary defiles were clog- 
ged with drifted snow, and swept by freezing gales. It was a 
dreadful march, accompanied by many disasters and much suf- 
fering. 

General Stille, one of the aids of Frederick on this expedition, 
says that the king, with his retinue, mounted and in carriages, 
pushed forward the first day to Landskron. " It was," he writes, 
" such a march as I never witnessed before. Through the ice 
and through the snow, which covered that dreadful chain of 
mountains between Bohmen and Mahren, we did not arrive till 
very late. Many of our carriages were broken down, and others 
were overturned more than once."* 

Frederick, ever regardless of fatigue and exposure for himself, 
never spared his followers. It was after midnight of the 28th 
when the weary column, frostbitten, hungry, and exhausted, 
reached Olmutz. The king was hospitably entertained in the 
fine palace of the Catholic bishop, " a little, gouty man," writes 
Stille, " about fifty-two years of age, with a countenance open 
and full of candor." 

Orders had been issued for all the Prussian troops to be ren- 
dezvoused by the 5th of February at Wischau. They were then 
to march immediately about seventy-five miles west, to Trebitsch, 
which was but a few miles south of Iglau, the point of attack. 
Here they were to join the French and Saxon troops. The force 
thus concentrated would amount to twenty-four thousand Prus- 

* Campagnes de le Roi de Prusse, p. 5. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 301 

sian troops, twenty thousand Saxons, an d # five thousand French 
horsemen. With this army — forty-nine thousand strong — Fred- 
erick was to advance, by one short day's march, upon Iglau, 
where the Austrian garrison amounted to but ten thousand men. 

In the mean time, on the 24th of January, Charles Albert, 
King of Bavaria, through the intrigues of the French minister 
and the diplomacy of Frederick, was chosen Emperor of Ger- 
many. This election Frederick regarded as a great triumph on 
his part. It was the signal defeat of Austria. Very few of 
the sons of Adam have passed a more joyless and dreary earth- 
ly pilgrimage than was the fortune of Charles Albert. At the 
time of his election he was forty-five years of age, of moderate 
stature, polished manners, and merely ordinary abilities. He 
was suffering from a complication of the most painful disorders. 
His previous life had been but a series of misfortunes, and dur- 
ing all the rest of his days he was assailed by the storms of ad- 
versity. In death alone he found refuge from a life almost with- 
out a joy. 

Charles Albert, who took the title of " the Emperor Charles 
VII.," was the son of Maximilian, King of Bavaria, who was 
ruined at Blenheim, and who, being placed under the ban of the 
empire, lived for many years a pensioner upon the charity of 
Louis XIV. Charles was then but seven years of age, a prince 
by birth, yet homeless, friendless, and in poverty. With vary- 
ing fortunes, he subsequently married a daughter of the Emperor 
Joseph. She was a cousin of Maria Theresa. Upon the death 
of his father in 1726, Charles Albert became King of Bavaria; 
but he was involved in debt beyond all hope of extrication. The 
intrigues of Frederick placed upon his wan and wasted brow 
the imperial crown of Germany. The coronation festivities took 
place at Frankfort, with great splendor, on the 12th of February, 
1742. 

Wilhelmina, who was present, gives a graphic account, with 
her vivacious pen, of many of the scenes, both tragic and comic, 
which ensued. 

" Of the coronation itself," she writes, " though it was truly 
grand, I will say nothing. The poor emperor could not enjoy it 
much. He was dying of gout and other painful diseases, and 
could scarcely stand upon his feet. He spends most of his time 



302 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

in bed, courting all manner of German princes. He has man- 
aged to lead my margraf into a foolish bargain about raising 
men for him, which bargain I, on fairly getting sight of it, per- 
suade my margraf to back out of; and, in the end, he does so. 
The emperor had fallen so ill he was considered even in danger 
of his life. Poor prince ! What a lot he had achieved for him- 
self!" 

While these coronation splendors were transpiring, Frederick 
was striving, with all his characteristic enthusiasm, to push for- 
ward his Moravian campaign to a successful issue. Inspired by 
as tireless energies as ever roused a human heart, he was annoy- 
ed beyond measure by the want of efficient co-operation on the 
part of his less zealous allies. Neither the Saxons nor the French 
could keep pace with his impetuosity. The princes who led the 
Saxon troops, the petted sons of kings- and nobles, were loth to 
abandon the luxurious indulgences to which they had been ac- 
customed. When they arrived at a capacious castle where they 
found warm fires, an abundant larder, and sparkling wines, they 
would linger there many days, decidedly preferring those com- 
forts to campaigning through the blinding, smothering snow- 
storm, and bivouacking on the bleak and icy plains, swept by 
the gales of a northern winter. The French were equally averse 
to these terrible marches, far more to be dreaded than the battle- 
field. 

Frederick remonstrated, argued, implored, but all in vain. 
He was not disposed to allow considerations of humanity, regard 
for suffering or life, to stand in the way of his ambitious plans. 
For two months, from February 5th, when Frederick rendez- 
voused the Prussians at Wischau, until April 5th, he found him- 
self, to his excessive chagrin, unable to accomplish any thing of 
moment, in consequence of the lukew r armness of his allies. He 
was annoyed almost beyond endurance. It was indeed inipor- 
tant, in a military point of view, that there should be an immedi- 
ate march upon Iglau. It was certain that the Austrian s, fore- 
w r arned,would soon remove their magazines or destroy them. The 
utmost expedition was essential to the success of the enterprise. 

The young officers in the Saxon army, having disposed their 
troops in comfortable barracks, had established their own head- 
quarters in the magnificent castle of Budischau, in the vicinity 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



303 



of Trebitsch. "Nothing like this superb mansion," writes Stille, 
" is to be seen except in theatres, on the drop-scene of the en- 
chanted castle." Here these young lords made themselves very 
comfortable. They had food in abundance, luxuriously served, 




THE YOUNG LORDS OF SAXONY ON A WINTER CAMPAIGN. 

with the choicest wines. Roaring fires in huge stoves convert- 
ed, within the walls, winter into genial summer. Here these 
pleasure-loving nobles, with song, and wine, and such favorites, 
male and female, as they carried with them, loved to linger. 

At length, however, Frederick succeeded in pushing forward 
a detachment of his army to seize the magazines and the post he 
so greatly coveted. The troops marched all night. Toward 
morning, almost perishing with cold, they built enormous fires. 



304: FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Having warmed their numbed and freezing limbs, they pressed 
on to Iglau, to find it abandoned by the garrison. The Austrian 
general Lobkowitz had carried away every thing which could 
be removed, and then had reduced to ashes seventeen magazines, 
filled with military and commissary stores. The king was ex- 
ceedingly chagrined by this barren conquest. He was anxious 
to advance in all directions, to take full possession of Moravia, 
before the Austrians could send re-enforcements to garrison its 
fortresses ; but the Saxon lords refused to march any farther in 
this severe winter campaign. Frederick complained to the Sax- 
on king. His Polish majesty sent an angry order to his troops 
to go forward. Sullenly they obeyed, interposing every obstacle 
in their power. Some of the leaders threw up their commissions 
and went home. Frederick, with his impetuous Prussians and 
his unwilling Saxons, spread over Moravia, levying contributions 
and seizing the strong places. 

The Saxons, much irritated, were rather more disposed to 
thwart his plans than to co-operate in them. The Austrian 
horsemen were vigilant, pouncing upon every unprotected de- 
tachment. Frederick marched for the capture of Briinn, the 
strongest fortress in Moravia. It had a garrison of seven thou- 
sand men, under the valiant leader Koth. To arrest the march 
of Frederick, and leave him shelterless on the plains, the Aus- 
trian general laid sixteen villages in ashes. The poor peasants 
— men, women, and children — foodless and shelterless, were thus 
cast loose upon the drifted fields. Who can gauge such woes? 

Frederick, finding that he could not rely upon the Saxons, sent 
to Silesia for re-enforcements of his own troops. Briinn could 
not be taken without siege artillery. He was capturing Mora- 
via for the King of Poland. Frederick dispatched a courier to 
his Polish majesty at Dresden, requesting him immediately to 
forward the siege guns. The reply of the king, who was volup- 
tuously lounging in his palaces, was, " I can not meet the expense 
of the carriage." Frederick contemptuously remarked, " He has 
just purchased a green diamond which would have carried them 
thither and back again." The Prussian king sent for siege ar- 
tillery of his own, drew his lines close around Briinn, and urged 
Chevalier De Saxe, general of the Saxon horse, to co-operate 
with him energetically in battering the city into a surrender. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 305 

The chevalier interposed one obstacle, and another, and another. 
At last he replied, showing his dispatches, " I have orders to re- 
tire from this business altogether, and join the French at Prague." 

Frederick declares, in his history, that never were tidings more 
welcome to him than these. He had embarked in the enterprise 
for the conquest of Moravia with the allies. He could not, with- 
out humiliation, withdraw. But, now that the ally, in whose be- 
half he assumed to be fighting, had abandoned him, he could, 
without dishonor, relinquish the field. Leaving the Saxons to 
themselves, with many bitter words of reproach, he countermand- 
ed his order for Silesian re-enforcements, assembled his troops at 
Wischau, and then, by a rapid march through Olmutz, returned 
to his strong fortresses in the north. 

The Saxons were compelled to a precipitate retreat. Their 
march was long, harassing, and full of suffering, from the severe 
cold of those latitudes, and from the assaults of the fierce Pan- 
dours, every where swarming around. Villages were burned, 
and maddened men wreaked direful vengeance on each other. 
Scarcely eight thousand of their number, a frostbitten, starving, 
emaciate band, reached the borders of Saxony. Curses loud and 
deep were heaped upon the name of Frederick. His Polish maj- 
esty, though naturally good-natured, was greatly exasperated in 
view of the conduct of the Prussian king in forcing the troops 
into the severities of such a campaign. Frederick himself was 
also equally indignant with Augustus for his want of co-opera- 
tion. The French minister, Valori, met him on his return from 
these disasters. He says that his look was ferocious and dark ; 
that his laugh was bitter and sardonic ; that a vein of suppress- 
ed rage, mockery, and contempt pervaded every word he uttered. 

Frederick withdrew his troops into strong cantonments in the 
valley of the upper Elbe. This beautiful river takes its rise in 
romantic chasms, among the ridges and spurs of the Giant Moun- 
tains, on the southeastern borders of Silesia. Here the Prussian 
army was distributed in small towns along a line following the 
windings of the stream, about forty miles in length. All the 
troops could be concentrated in forty-eight hours. The encamp- 
ments faced the south, with the Elbe behind them. At some 
little distance north of the river, safe from surprise, the maga- 
zines were stationed. The mountains of Bohemia rose sublime- 

U 



306 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



ly in the distant background. In a letter to M. Jordan, under 
date of Chrudim, May 5th, 1742, Frederick expresses his views 
of this profitless campaign in the following terms : 




MAP ILLUSTRATING THE CAMPAIGN IN MORAVIA. 

" Moravia, w^hieh is a very bad country, could not be held, ow- 
ing to want of provisions. The town of Brtinn could not be 
taken because the Saxons had no cannon. When you wish to 
enter a town, you must first make a hole to get in by. Besides, 
the country has been reduced to such a state that the enemy can 
not subsist in it, and you will soon see him leave it. There is 
your little military lesson. I would not have you at a loss what 
to think of our operations, or what to say, should other people 
talk of them in your presence." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 307 

Elsewhere, Frederick, speaking of these two winter campaigns, 
says: "Winter campaigns are bad, and should always be avoid- 
ed, except in cases of necessity. The best army in the world is 
liable to be ruined by them. I myself have made more winter 
campaigns than any general of this age. But there were reasons. 
In 1740 there were hardly above two Austrian regiments in Si- 
lesia, at the death of the Emperor Charles VI. Being deter- 
mined to assert my right to that duchy, I had to try it at once, 
in winter, and carry the war, if possible, to the banks of the 
Neisse. Had I waited till spring, we must have begun the war 
between Crossen and Glogau. What was now to be gained by 
one march would then have cost us three or four campaigns. A 
sufficient reason, this, for campaigning in winter. If I did not 
succeed in the winter campaigns of 1742, a campaign which I 
made to deliver Moravia, then overrun by Austrians, it was be- 
cause the French acted like fools, and the Saxons like traitors."* 

Frederick, establishing his head-quarters at Chrudim, did not 
suppose the Austrians would think of moving upon him until 
the middle of June. Not till then would the grass in that cold 
region afford forage. But Maria Theresa was inspired by ener- 
gies fully equal to those of her renowned assailant. Undismay- 
ed by the powerful coalition against her, she sent Prince Charles, 
her brother-in-law, early in May, at the head of an army thirty 
thousand strong, to advance by a secret, rapid flank march, and 
seize the Prussian magazines beyond the Elbe. 

The ever-wakeful eye of Frederick detected the movement. 
His beautiful encampment at Chrudim had lasted but two days. 
Instantly couriers were dispatched in all directions to rendezvous 
the Prussian troops on a vast plain in the vicinity of Chrudim. 
But a few hours elapsed ere every available man in the Prussian 
ranks was on the march. This movement rendered it necessary 
for Prince Charles to concentrate the Austrian army also. The 
field upon which these hosts were gathering for battle was an 
undulating prairie, almost treeless, with here and there a few 
hamlets of clustered peasant cottages scattered around. 

It was a serene, cloudless May morning when Frederick rode 
upon a small eminence to view the approach of his troops, and 
to form them in battle array. General Stille, who was an eye- 

* (Euvres de Frederic, xvii., p. 196. 



308 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




FREDERICK CONCENTRATING HIS ARMY AT CHRUDIM. 



witness of the scene, describes the spectacle as one of the most 
beautiful and magnificent which was ever beheld. The trans- 
parent atmosphere, the balmy air, transmitting with wonderful 
accuracy the most distant sounds, the smooth, wide-spreading 
prairie, the hamlets, to which distance lent enchantment, sur- 
mounted by the towers or spires of the churches, the winding 
columns of infantry and cavalry, their polished weapons flashing 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 309 

in the sunlight, the waving of silken and gilded banners, while 
bugle peals and bursts of military airs floated now faintly, and 
now loudly, upon the ear, the whole scene being bathed in the 
rays of the most brilliant of spring mornings — all together pre- 
sented war in its brightest hues, divested of every thing revolt- 
ing.* 

There were nearly thirty thousand men, infantry and cavalry, 
thus assembling under the banners of Frederick for battle. They 
were in as perfect state of drill as troops have ever attained, and 
were armed with the most potent implements of war which that 
age could furnish. The king was visibly affected by the spec- 
tacle. Whether humane considerations touched his heart, or 
merely poetic emotion moved him, we can not tell. But he was 
well aware that within a few hours not merely hundreds, but 
thousands of those men, torn by shot and shell, would be pros- 
trate in their blood upon the plain ; and he could not but know 
that for all the carnage and the suffering, he, above all others, 
would be responsible at the bar of God. 

" The king," writes Stille, " though fatigued, would not rest 
satisfied with reports or distant view. Personally he made the 
tour of the whole camp, to see that every thing was right, and 
posted the pickets himself before retiring." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

FREDERICK TRIUMPHANT. 

The Battle of Chotusitz. — Letter to Jordan. — Results of the Battle. — Secret. Negotiations. — 
The Treaty of Breslau. — Entrance into Frankfort. — Treachery of Louis XV. — Results of the 
Silesian Campaigns. — Panegyrics of Voltaire. — Imperial Character of Maria Theresa. — Her 
Grief over the Loss of Silesia. — Anecdote of Senora Barbarina. — Duplicity of both Frederick 
and Voltaire. — Gayety in Berlin. — Straitened Circumstances. — Unamiability of Frederick. 

It was the aim of Prince Charles to get between Frederick's 
encampment at Chrudim and his French allies, under Marshal 
Broglio, at Prague. When discovered by Frederick, the Aus- 
trian army was on the rapid march along a line about fifteen 
miles nearly southwest of Chrudim. It thus threatened to cut 
Frederick's communication with Prague, which was on the Mol- 
dau, about sixty miles west of the Prussian encampment. The 

* Campaigns of the King of Prussia, p. 57. 



310 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



forces now gathering for a decisive battle were nearly equal. 
The reader would not be interested in the description of the 
strategic and tactical movements of the next two days. The 
leaders of both parties, with great military sagacity, were accu- 
mulating and concentrating their forces for a conflict, which, un- 
der the circumstances, would doubtless prove ruinous to the one 
or the other. A battle upon that open plain, with equal forces, 
was of the nature of a duel, in which one or the other of the com- 
batants must fall. 

On the morning of the 17th of May Frederick's army was 
drawn out in battle array, facing south, near the village of Cho- 
tusitz, about fifteen miles west of Chruclim. Almost w T ithin can- 
non-shot of him, upon the same plain, near the village of Czaslau, 
facing north, was the army of Prince Charles. The field was 
like a rolling western prairie, with one or two sluggish streams 
running through it ; and here and there marshes, which neither 
infantry nor cavalry could traverse. The accompanying map will 
give the reader an idea of the nature of the ground and the po- 
sition of the hostile forces. 




BATTLE OF CHOTUSITZ. 

a. Prussian Camp, b b. Prussian Infantry, c c. Prussian Cavalry, d. Position of Budderibrock. 
e e. Austrian Infantry, ff. Austrian Cavalry, g. Austrian Hussars. 

The sun rose clear and cloudless over the plain, soon to be 
crimsoned with blood and darkened by the smoke of battle. 
The Prussians took position in accordance with very minute di- 
rections given to the young Prince Leopold by Frederick. It 
was manifest to the most unskilled observer that the storm of 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 311 

battle would rage over many miles, as the infantry charged to 
and fro; as squadrons of strongly -mounted cavalry swept the 
field ; as bullets, balls, and shells were hurled in all directions 
from the potent enginery of war. 

About seven o'clock in the morning the king ascended an em- 
inence, and carefully scanned the field, where sixty thousand men 
were facing each other, soon to engage in mutual slaughter. 
There were two spectacles which arrested his attention. The 
one was the pomp, and pageantry, and panoply of war, with its 
serried ranks, its prancing steeds, its flashing armor, its waving 
banners, its inspiriting bugle -peals — a scene in itself beautiful 
and sublime in the highest conceivable degree. 

But there was another picture which met the eye of the king 
very different in its aspect. We know not whether it at all 
touched his heart. It was that of the poor peasants, with their 
mothers, their wives, their children, hurrying from their hamlets 
in all directions, in the utmost dismay. Grandmothers tottered 
beneath the burden of infant children. Fathers and mothers 
struggled on with the household goods they were striving to res- 
cue from impending ruin. The cry of maidens and children 
reached the ear as they fled from the tramp of the war-horse and 
the approaching carnage of the death-dealing artillery. 

Frederick, having carefully scanned the Austrian lines for an 
instant or two, gave the signal, and all his batteries opened their 
thunders. Under cover of that storm of iron, several thousand 
of the cavalry, led by .the veteran General Bredow, deployed from 
behind some eminences, and first at a gentle trot, and then upon 
the most impetuous run, with flashing sabres, hurled themselves 
upon the left wing of the Austrian lines. The ground was dry 
and sandy, and a prodigious cloud of dust enveloped them. For 
a moment the tornado, vital with human energies, swept on, ap- 
parently unobstructed. The first line of the Austrian horse was 
met, crushed, annihilated. But the second stood as the rock 
breasts the waves, horse against horse, rider against rider, sabre 
against sabre. Nothing met the eye but one vast eddying whirl- 
pool of dust, as if writhing in volcanic energies, while here and 
there the flash of fire and the gleam of steel flickered madly 
through it. 

The battle, thus commenced, continued to rage for four long 



312 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

hours, with all its demon energies, its blood, its wounds, its oaths, 
its shrieks, its death ; on the right wing, on the left wing, in the 
centre ; till some ten or twelve thousand, some accounts say more, 
of these poor peasant soldiers lay prostrate upon the plain, crush- 
ed by the hoof, torn by the bullet, gashed by the sabre. Many 
were dead. Many were dying. Many had received wounds 
which would cripple them until they should totter into their 
graves. At the close of these four hours of almost superhuman 
effort, the villages all around in names, the Austrians slowly, 
sullenly retired from the contest. Prince Charles, having lost 
nearly seven thousand men, with his remaining forces breathless, 
exhausted, bleeding, retired through Czaslau, and vanished over 
the horizon to the southwest. Frederick, with his forces almost 
equally breathless, exhausted, and bleeding, and counting five 
thousand of his soldiers strewn over the plain, in death or 
wounds, remained master of the field. Such was the famous bat- 
tle of Chotusitz. 

In the following terms, Frederick, the moment the battle was 
over, announced his victory, not to his wife, but to his friend 
Jordan : 

" From the Field of Battle of Chotusitz, May 17, 1742. 

" Dear Jordan, — I must tell you, as gayly as I can, that we 
have beaten the enemy soundly, and that we are all pretty well 
after it. Poor Kothenburg is wounded in the breast and in the 
arm, but, as it is hoped, without danger. Adieu. You will be 
happy, I think, at the good news I send you. My compliments 
to Csesarion."* 

Frederick did not pursue the Austrians after this victory. 
Nine acres of ground were required to bury the dead. He rent- 
ed this land from the proprietor for twenty-five years. His alien- 
ation from his allies was such that, without regard to them, he 
was disposed to make peace with Austria upon the best terms 
he could for himself. England also, alarmed in view of the in- 
creasing supremacy of France, was so anxious to detach Freder- 
ick, with his invincible troops, from the French alliance, that the 
British cabinet urged Maria Theresa to make any sacrifice what- 
ever that might be necessary to secure peace with Prussia. Fred- 

* Correspondance de Frederic II. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 313 

erick, influenced by such considerations, buried the illustrious 
Austrian dead with the highest marks of military honor, and 
treated with marked consideration his distinguished prisoners 
of war. 

Secret negotiations were immediately opened at Breslau, in 
Silesia, between England, Austria, and Prussia. Maria Theresa, 
harassed by the entreaties of her cabinet and by the importu- 
nities of the British court, consented to all that Frederick de- 
manded. 

The French, who, through their shrewd embassador, kept 
themselves informed of all that was transpiring, were quite 
alarmed in view of the approaching accommodation between 
Prussia and Austria. It is said that Frederick, on the 6th of 
June, in reply to the earnest remonstrances of the French min- 
ister, Marshal Belleisle, against his withdrawal from the alliance, 
frankly said to him, 

" All that I ever wanted, more than I ever demanded, Austria 
now offers me. Can any one blame me that I close such an al- 
liance as ours all along has been, when such terms are presented 
to me as Austria now proposes?" 

On the 15th of June Frederick gave a grand dinner to his 
generals at his head-quarters. In an after-dinner speech he said 
to them, 

" Gentlemen, I announce to you that, as I never wished to op- 
press the Queen of Hungary, I have formed the resolution of 
agreeing with that princess, and accepting the proposals she has 
made me, in satisfaction of my rights." 

Toasts were then drank with great enthusiasm to the health 
of " Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary," to " the queen's consort, 
Francis, Grand-duke of Lorraine ;" and universal and cordial was 
the response of applause when the toast was proposed " to the 
brave Prince Charles." 

The treaty of Breslau was signed on the 11th of June, and 
ratified at Berlin on the 28th of July. By this treaty, Silesia, 
Lower and Upper, was ceded to "Frederick and his heirs for ever- 
more," while Frederick withdrew from the French alliance, and 
entered into friendly relations with her Hungarian majesty. Im- 
mediately after the settlement of this question, Frederick, can- 
toning his troops in Silesia, returned to Berlin. Elate with vie- 



314 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

tory and accompanied by a magnificent suite, the young conquer- 
or hastened home, over green fields and beneath a summer's sun. 
Keenly he enjoyed his triumph, greeted with the enthusiastic ac- 
claim of the people in all the towns and villages through which 
he passed.* At Frankfort-on-the-Oder, where a fair was in opera- 
tion, the king stopped for a few hours. Vast crowds, which had 
been drawn to the place by the fair, lined the highway for a long 
distance on both sides, eager to see the victor who had aggran- 
dized Prussia by adding a large province to its realms. 

" His majesty's entrance into Frankfort," writes M. Bielfeld, 
who accompanied him, " although very triumphant, was far from 
ostentatious. We passed like lightning before the eyes of the 
spectators, and were so covered with dust that it was difficult to 
distinguish the color of our coats and the features of our faces. 
We made some purchases at Frankfort, and the next day arrived 
safely in Berlin, where the king was received with the acclama- 
tions of his people."f 

If we can rely upon the testimony of Frederick, an incident 
occurred at this time which showed that the French court was 
as intriguing and unprincipled as was his Prussian majesty. It 
is quite evident that the Austrian court also was not animated 
by a very high sense of honor. 

After the battle of Chotusitz, Frederick called upon General 
Pallant, an Austrian officer, who was wounded and a prisoner. 
In the course of the conversation, General Pallant stated that 
France was ready at any moment to betray his Prussian majesty, 
and that, if he would give him six days' time, he would furnish 
him with documentary proof. A courier was instantly dispatch- 
ed to Vienna. He soon returned with a letter from Cardinal 
Fleury, the prime minister of Louis XV., addressed to Maria 
Theresa, informing her that, if she would give up Bohemia to 
the emperor, France would guarantee to her Silesia. Frederick, 
though guilty of precisely the same treachery himself, read the 
document with indignation, and assumed to be as much amazed 
at the perfidy as he could have been had he been an honest man. 

* "Huge huzzaing, herald-trumpeting, bob-major-ing, burst forth from all Prussian towns, es- 
pecially from all Silesian ones, in those June days, as the drums beat homeward ; elaborate il- 
luminations in the short nights, with bonfires, with transparencies ; transparency inscribed ' Fred- 
erico Magno (To Frederick the Great),' in one small instance, still of premature nature." — Car- 
lyle. t Bielfeld, 251. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 315 

"The cardinal," he said, "takes me for a fool. He wishes to 
betray me. I will try and prevent him." 

The French marshal, Belleisle, alarmed by the report that 
Frederick was entering into a treaty of peace with Austria, 
hastened to the Prussian camp to ascertain the truth or false- 
hood of the rumor. Frederick, emboldened by the document he 
had in his pocket, was very frank. 

" I have prescribed," he said, " the conditions of peace to the 
Queen of Hungary. She accepts them. Having, therefore, all 
that I want, I make peace. All the world in my situation would 
do the same." 

" Is it possible, sire," Marshal Belleisle replied, " that you can 
dare to abandon the best of your allies, and to deceive so illus- 
trious a monarch as the King of France ¥'■ 

" And you, sir," responded the king, with an air of great dis- 
dain, at the same time placing in his hand the cardinal's letter, 
" do you dare to talk to me in this manner V 

The marshal glanced his eye over the document, and retired, 
overwhelmed with confusion. Thus ended the alliance between 
Prussia and France. " Each party," writes Frederick r " wished 
to be more cunning than the other."* 

In the following terms, Frederick correctly sums up the inci- 
dents of N the two Silesian campaigns : 

" Thus was Silesia reunited to the dominions of Prussia. Two 
years of war sufficed for the conquest of this important province. 
The treasure which the late king had left was nearly exhausted. 
But it is a cheap purchase, where whole provinces are bought 
for seven or eight, millions of crowns. The union of circum- 
stances at the moment peculiarly favored this enterprise. It 
was necessary for it that France should allow- itself to be drawn 
into the war ; that Russia should be attacked by Sweden ; that, 
from timidity, the Hanoverians and Saxons should remain inac- 
tive ; that the successes of the Prussians should be uninterrupt- 
ed ; and that the King of England, the enemy of Prussia, should 
become, in spite of himself, the instrument of its aggrandizement. 
What, however, contributed the most to this conquest was an 
army which had been formed for twenty-two years, by means of 
a discipline admirable in itself, and superior to the troops of the 

* Ilistoire de mon Temps. 



316 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

rest of Europe. Generals, also, who were true patriots, wise and 
incorruptible ministers, and, finally, a certain good fortune which 
often accompanies youth, and often deserts a more advanced 
age."* 

There was no end to the panegyrics which Voltaire, in his 
correspondence with Frederick, now lavished upon him. He 
greeted him with the title of Frederick the Great. 

" How glorious," he exclaimed, " is my king, the youngest of 
kings, and the grandest ! A king who carries in the one hand 
an all-conquering sword, but in the other a blessed olive-branch, 
and is the arbiter of Europe for peace or war." 

Frederick, having obtained all that, for the present, he could 
hope to obtain, deemed it for his interest to attempt to promote 
the peace of Europe. His realms needed consolidating, his army 
recruiting, his treasury replenishing. But he found it much eas- 
ier to stir up the elements of strife than to allay them. 

His withdrawal from the French alliance removed the menace 
from the English Hanoverian possession. George II. eagerly 
sent an army of sixty thousand men to the aid of Maria Theresa 
against France, and freely opened to her his purse. The French 
were defeated every where. They were driven from Prague in 
one of the most disastrous wintry retreats of blood and misery 
over which the demon of war ever gloated. The powerless, pen- 
niless emperor, the creature of France, who had neither purse 
nor army, was driven, a fugitive and a vagabond, from his petty 
realm of Bavaria, and was exposed to humiliation, want, and in- 
sult. 

Maria Theresa was developing character which attracted the 
admiration of Europe. She seriously contemplated taking com- 
mand of her armies herself. She loved Duke Francis, her hus- 
band, treated him very tenderly, and was anxious to confer upon 
him honor ; but by nature vastly his superior, instinctively she 
assumed the command. She led ; he followed. She was a mag- 
nificent rider. Her form was the perfection of grace. Her beau- 
tiful, pensive, thoughtful face was tanned by the weather. All 
hearts throbbed as, on a spirited charger, she sometimes swept 
before the ranks of the army, with her gorgeous retinue, appear- 
ing and disappearing like a meteor. She was as devout as she 

* Bielfeld, p. 251. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



317 



was brave, winning the homage of all Catholic hearts. We 
know not where, in the long list of sovereigns, to point to man 
or woman of more imperial energies, of more exalted worth. 




MARIA THERESA AT THE HEAD OF HER ARMY. 

The loss of Silesia she regarded as an act of pure highway 
robbery. It rankled in her noble heart as the great humiliation 
and disgrace of her reign. Frederick was to her but as a hated 
and successful bandit, who had wrenched from her crown one of 



318 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

its brightest jewels. To the last day of her life she never ceased 
to deplore the loss. It is said that if any stranger, obtaining an 
audience, was announced as from Silesia, the eyes of the queen 
would instantly flood with tears. But the fortunes of war had 
now triumphantly turned in her favor. Aided by the armies 
and the gold of England, she was on the high career of conquest. 
Her troops had overrun Bohemia and Bavaria. She was dis- 
posed to hold those territories in compensation for Silesia, which 
she had lost. 

In the mean time, during the two years in which Maria The- 
resa was making these conquests, Frederick, alarmed by the ag- 
grandizement of Austria and the weakening of France, while un- 
availingly striving to promote peace, was busily employed in the 
administration of his internal affairs. He encouraged letters; 
devoted much attention to the Academy of Arts and Sciences ; 
reared the most beautiful opera-house in Europe ; devoted large 
sums to secure the finest musicians and the most exquisite ballet- 
dancers which Europe could afford. He sought to make his 
capital attractive to all those throughout Europe who were in- 
spired by a thirst for knowledge, or who were in the pursuit of 
pleasure. 

One incident in this connection, illustrative of the man and 
of the times, merits brief notice. His agent at Venice reported 
a female dancer there of rare attainments, Senora Barberina. 
She was marvelously beautiful, and a perfect fairy in figure and 
grace, and as fascinating in her vivacity and sparkling intelli- 
gence as she was lovely in person. Frederick immediately or- 
dered her to be engaged for his opera-house at Berlin, at a salary 
of nearly four thousand dollars, and sundry perquisites. 

But it so happened that the beautiful dancer had in the train 
of her impassioned admirers a young English gentleman, a 
younger brother of the Earl of Bute. He was opposed to Bar- 
berina's going to Prussia, and induced her to throw up the en- 
gagement. Frederick was angry, and demanded the execution 
of the contract. The pretty Barberina, safe in Venice,, made her- 
self merry with the complaints of the Prussian monarch. Fred- 
erick, not accustomed to be thwarted, applied to the doge and 
the Senate of Venice to compel Barberina to fulfill her contract. 
They replied with great politeness, but did nothing. Barberina 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 319 

remained with her lover under the sunny skies of Italy, charm- 
ing with her graceful pirouettes admiring audiences in the Vene- 
tian theatres. 

In the mean time a Venetian embassador, on his way to one 
of the northern courts, passed a night at a hotel in'Berlin. He 
was immediately arrested, with his luggage, by a royal order. 
A dispatch was transmitted to Venice, stating that the embassa- 
dor would be held as a hostage till Barberina was sent to Prus- 
sia. " A bargain," says Frederick, in his emphatic utterance, " is 
a bargain. A state should have law courts to enforce contracts 
entered into in their territories." 

The doge and senate were brought to terms. They seized the 
beautiful Barberina, placed her carefully in a post-chaise, and, 
under an escort of armed men, sent her, from stage to stage, over 
mountain and valley, till she arrived at Berlin. The Venetian 
embassador was then discharged. The young English gentle- 
man, James Mackenzie, a grandson of the celebrated advocate, 
Sir George Mackenzie, eagerly followed his captured inamorata, 
and reached Berlin two hours after Barberina. The rumor was 
circulated that he was about to marry her. 

It is said that Frederick, determined not to lose his dancer in 
that manner, immediately informed the young gentleman's friends 
that he was about to form a mesalliance with an opera girl. 
The impassioned lover was peremptorily summoned home. Ha- 
tred for Frederick consequently rankled in young Mackenzie's 
heart. This hatred he communicated to his brother, Lord Bute, 
which subsequently had no little influence in affairs of national 
diplomacy. 

The king himself became much fascinated with the personal 
loveliness and the sparkling intelligence of the young dancer. 
He even condescended to take tea with her, in company with 
others. . Not long after her arrival in Berlin she made a con- 
quest of a young gentleman of one of the first Prussian families, 
M. Cocceji, son of the celebrated chancellor, and was privately 
married to him. For a time Barberina continued upon the stage. 
At length, in the enjoyment of ample wealth, she purchased a 
splendid mansion, and, publicly announcing her marriage, retired 
with her husband to private life. But the mother of Cocceji, 
and other proud family friends, scorned the lowly alliance. A 



320 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

divorce was the result. Soon after, Barberina was married to a 
nobleman of high rank, and we bear of ber no more. 

Though Frederick, in his private correspondence, often spoke 
very contemptuously of Voltaire, it would seem, if any reliance 
can be placed on the testimony of Voltaire himself, that Freder- 
ick sedulously courted the author, whose pen was then so poten- 
tial in Europe. By express invitation, Voltaire spent a week 
with Frederick at Aix la Chapelle early in September, 1742. 
He writes to a friend from Brussels under date of December 10 : 

" I have been to see the King of Prussia. I have courageous- 
ly resisted his fine proposals. He offers me a beautiful house in 
Berlin, a pretty estate, but I prefer my second floor in Madame 
Du Chatelet's here. He assures me of his favor, of the perfect 
freedom I should have ; and I am running to Paris, to my slav- 
ery and persecution. I could fancy myself a small Athenian re- 
fusing the bounties of the King of Persia ; with this difference, 
however, one had liberty at Athens." 

Again he writes, nnder the same date, to the Marquis D'Ar- 
genson : 

"I have just been to see the King of Prussia, I have seen 
him as one seldom sees kings, much at my ease, in my own room, 
in the chimney-corner, whither the same man who has gained 
two battles would come and talk familiarly, as Scipio did with 
Terence. You will tell me I am not Terence. True ; but nei- 
ther is he altogether Scipio." 

Again he writes, under the same date, to Cardinal De Fleury, 
then the most prominent member of the cabinet of Louis XV. : 

" Monseioteur, — I am bound to give your excellency some 
account of my journey to Aix la Chapelle. I could not leave 
Brussels until the second of this month. On the road I met a 
courier from the King of Prussia, coming to reiterate his master's 
orders on me. The king had me lodged in quarters near his 
own apartment. He passed, for two consecutive days, four hours 
at a time in my room, with all that goodness and familiarity 
which form, as you know, part of his character, and which does 
not lower the king's dignity, because one is duly careful not to 
abuse it. I had abundant time to speak with a great deal of 
freedom on what your excellency had prescribed to me, and the 
king spoke to me with an equal frankness. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 321 

" First he asked me ' if it were true that the French nation 
were so angered against him, if the king was, and if you were.' 
I answered ' that there was nothing permanent.' He then con- 
descended to speak fully upon the reasons which induced him 
to make peace. These reasons were so remarkable that I dare 
not trust them to this paper. All that I dare say is, that it 
seems to me easy to lead back the mind of this sovereign, whom 
the situation of his territories, his interest, and his taste would 
appear to mark as the natural ally of France. He said, more- 
over, ' that he earnestly desired to see Bohemia in the emperor's 
hands, that he renounced all claim on Berg and Jtilick, and that 
he thought only of keeping Silesia.' He said 'that he knew 
well enough that the house of Austria would one day wish to 
recover that fine province, but that he trusted he could keep his 
conquest. That he had at that time a hundred and thirty thou- 
sand soldiers perfectly prepared for war; that he would make 
of Neisse, Glogau, and Brieg fortresses as strong as Wesel ; that 
he was well informed that the Queen of Hungary owed eighty 
million German crowns ($60,000,000) ; that her provinces, ex- 
hausted and wide apart, would not be able to make long efforts ; 
and that the Austrians for a long time to come could not of them- 
selves be formidable.' "* 

Frederick was accustomed to cover his deep designs of diplom- 

* It would seem that Voltaire was sent to Frederick as the secret agent and spy of the French 
minister. " Voltaire," writes Macaulay, " was received with every mark of respect and friend- 
ship. The negotiation was of an extraordinary description. Nothing can he conceived more 
whimsical than the conferences which took place between the first literary man and the first 
practical man of the age, whom a strange weakness had induced to change their parts. The 
great poet would talk of nothing but treaties and guarantees, and the king of nothing but met- 
aphors and rhymes. On one occasion Voltaire put into his majesty's hand a paper on the state 
of Europe, and received it back with verses scrawled on the margin. In secret they both laugh- 
ed at each other. Voltaire did not spare the king's poems, and the king has left on record his 
opinion of Voltaire's diplomacy, saying, ' He had no credentials, and the whole mission was a 
* mere farce. ' " 

As a specimen of the character of the document above alluded to, we give the following. Vol- 
taire, in what he deemed a very important state paper, had remarked, 

"The partisans of Austria burn with the desire to open the campaign in Silesia again. Have 
you, in that case, any ally but France? And, however potent you are, is an ally useless to 
you ?" 

The king scribbled on the margin, 

" Mon ami, 
Don't you see 
We will receive them 
A la Barbari!" 

X 



322 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

acy by the promotion of the utmost gayety in his capital. Nev- 
er did Berlin exhibit such spectacles of festivity and pleasure as 
during the winter of 1742 and 1743. There was a continued suc- 
cession of operas, balls, fetes, and sleigh-parties. Frederick's two 
younger sisters were at that time brilliant ornaments of his court. 
They were both remarkably beautiful and vivacious. The Prin- 
cess Louise Ulrique was in her twenty-third year. The follow- 
ing letter to Frederick from these two princesses will be keenly 
appreciated by many of our young lady readers whose expenses 
have exceeded their allowance. It shows very conclusively that 
there may be the same pecuniary annoyances in the palaces of 
kings as in more humble homes. 

"Berlin, 1st of March, 1743. 

"My dearest Brother, — I know not if it is not too bold. to 
trouble your majesty on private affairs. But the great confidence 
my sister and I have in your kindness encourages us to lay be- 
fore you a sincere avowal of our little finances, which are a good 
deal deranged just now. The revenues, having for two years 
and a half past been rather small, amounting to only four hun- 
dred crowns ($300) a year, could not be made to cover all the 
little expenses required in the adjustment of ladies. This cir- 
cumstance, added to our card-playing, though small, which we 
could not dispense with, has led us into debt. Mine amounts 
to fifteen hundred crowns ($1125) ; my sister's, to eighteen hun- 
dred crowns ($1350). We have not spoken of it to the queeji- 
mother, though we are sure she would have tried to assist us. 
But as that could not have been done without some inconven- 
ience to her, and as she would have retrenched in some of her 
own little entertainments, I thought we should do better to ap- 
ply directly to your majesty. We were persuaded you' would 
have taken it amiss had we deprived the queen of her smallest 
pleasure, and especially as we consider you, my dear brother, the 
father of the family, and hope you will be so gracious as to help 
us. We shall never forget the kind acts of your majesty. We 
beg you to be persuaded of the perfect and tender attachment 
with which we are proud to be, all our lives, your majesty's 
most humble sisters and servants, Louise Ulrique, 

"Anne Amelia. 

" P.S. — I most humbly beg your majesty not to speak of this 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 323 



to the queen-mother, as perhaps she would not approve of the 
step we are now taking. Ann Amelia.' 



?>* 



About this time Frederick was somewhat alarmed by a state- 
ment issued by the court of Austria, that the emperor, Charles 
Albert, was no legitimate emperor at all ; that the election was 
not valid ; and that Austria, which had the emperor's kingdom 
of Bavaria by the throat, insisted upon compensation for the Si- 
lesia she had lost. It was evident that Maria Theresa, whose 
armies were every where successful, was determined that her 
husband, Duke Francis, should be decorated with the imperial 
crown. It now seemed probable that she would be able to ac- 
complish her design. Frederick was alarmed, and deemed it 
necessary to strengthen himself by matrimonial alliances. 

The heir to the Russian throne was an orphan boy, Peter 
Federowitz. The Russian court was looking around to obtain 
for him a suitable wife. Frederick's commandant at Stettin, a 
man of renowned lineage, had a beautiful daughter of fourteen. 
She was a buxom girl, full of life as she frolicked upon the ram- 
parts of the fortress with her young companions. Frederick suc- 
ceeded in obtaining her betrothal to the young Prince of Russia. 
She was solemnly transferred from the Protestant to the Greek 
religion ; her name was changed to Catharine ; and she was 
eventually married, greatly to the satisfaction of Frederick, to 
the young Russian czar. 

Adolph Frederick was the heir to the throne of Sweden. Suc- 
cessful diplomacy brought a magnificent embassy from Stock- 
holm to Berlin, to demand Princess Ulrique as the bride of 
Sweden's future king. The course of love, whether true or false, 
certainly did in this case run smooth. The marriage ceremony 
was attended in Berlin with such splendor as the Prussian cap- 
ital had never witnessed before. The beautiful Ulrique was 
very much beloved. She was married by proxy, her brother 
Augustus William standing in the place of the bridegroom. 

All eyes were dimmed with tears as, after a week of brilliant 
festivities, she prepared for her departure. The carriages were 
at the door to convey her, with her accompanying suite of lords 
and ladies, to Stralsund, where the Swedish senate and nobles 

* (Euvres de Frederic, XXVII. , vol. i.,p. 387. 



324 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

were to receive her. The princess entered the royal apartment 
to take leave of her friends, dressed in a rose-colored riding-habit 
trimmed with silver. The vest which encircled her slender waist 
was of sea-green, with lappets and collar of the same. She wore 
a small English bonnet of black velvet with a white plume. 
Her flowing hair hung in ringlets over her shoulders, bound with 
rose-colored ribbon. 

The king, who was devotedly attached to his sister, and who 
was very fond, on all occasions, of composing rhymes which he 
called poetry, wrote a very tender ode, bidding her adieu. It 
commenced with the words 

" Pavtez, ma soeur, partez ; 
La Suede yous attend, la Suede 
vous desire." 
Go, my sister, go ; 
Sweden waits you, Sweden 
wishes you. 

"His majesty gave it to her at the moment when she was 
about to take leave of the two queens. The princess threw her 
eyes on it and fell into a faint. The king had almost done the 
like. His tears flowed abundantly. The princes and princesses 
were overcome with sorrow. At last Gotter judged it time to 
put an end to this tragic scene. He entered the hall almost like 
Boreas in the ballet of " The Rose 1 ' — that is to say, with a crash. 
He made one or two whirlwinds, clove the press, and snatched 
away the princess from the arms of the queen-mother, took her 
in his own, and whisked her out of the hall. All the world fol- 
lowed. The carriages were waiting in the court, and the prin- 
cess in a moment found herself in hers. 

" I was in such a state I know not how we got down stairs. I 
remember only that it was in a concert of lamentable sobbings. 
Madame, the Marchioness of Schwedt, who had been named to 
attend the princess to Stralsund, on the Swedish frontier, this 
high lady, and the two dames D'Atours, who were for Sweden 
itself, having sprung into the same carriage, the door of it was 
shut with a slam, the' postillions cracked, the carriage shot away, 
and disappeared from our eyes. In a moment the king and 
court lost sight of the beloved Ulrique forever."* 

Frederick was far from being an amiable man. He would 

* Letters of Bielfeld, vol. i., p. 188. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 325 

often cruelly banter his companions, knowing that it was impos- 
sible for them to indulge in any retort. Baron Pollnitz was a 
very weak old man, who had several times changed his religion 
to subserve his private interests. He had been rather a petted 
courtier during three reigns. Now, in extreme old age, and weary 
of the world, he wished to renounce Protestantism, and to enter 
the cloisters of the convent in preparation for death. He ap- 
plied to the king for permission to do so. Frederick furnished 
him with the following sarcastic parting testimony. It was 
widely circulated through many of the journals of that day, ex- 
citing peals of laughter as a capital royal joke : 

"Whereas the Baron De Pollnitz, born of honest parents, so 
far as we know, having served our grandfather as gentleman of 
the chamber, Madame D'Orleans in the same rank, the King of 
Spain as colonel, the deceased Emperor Charles VI. as captain 
of horse, the pope as chamberlain, the Duke of Brunswick as 
chamberlain, the Duke of Weimar as ensign, our father as cham- 
berlain, and, in fine, us as grand master of ceremonies, has, not- 
withstanding such accumulation of honors, become disgusted 
with the world, and requests of us a parting testimony ; 

" We, remembering his important services to our house in di- 
verting for nine years long the late king our father, and doing 
the honors of our court through the now reign, can not refuse 
such request. We do hereby certify that the said Baron Poll- 
nitz has never assassinated, robbed on the highway, poisoned, 
forcibly cut purses, or done other atrocity or legal crime at our 
court ; but that he has always maintained gentlemanly behavior, 
making not more than honest use of the industry and talents he 
has been endowed with at birth; imitating the object of the 
drama — that is, correcting mankind by gentle quizzing — follow- 
ing in the matter of sobriety Boerhaave's counsels, pushing Chris- 
tian charity so far as often to make the rich understand that it 
is more blessed to give than to receive ; possessing perfectly the 
anecdotes of our various mansions, especially of our worn-out fur- 
nitures, rendering himself by his merits necessary to those who 
know him, and, with a very bad head, having a very good heart. 

" Our anger the said Baron Pollnitz never kindled but once.* 

* In Pollnitz's memoirs and letters he repeated the rumor that the great elector's second wife, 
an ancestor of Frederick, had attempted to poison her step-son. 



326 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

But as the loveliest countries have their barren spots, the most 
beautiful forms their imperfections, pictures by the greatest mas- 
ters their faults, we are willing to cover with the veil of oblivion 
those of the said baron. We do hereby grant him, with regret, 
the leave of absence he requires, and abolish his office altogether, 
that it may be blotted from the memory of man, not judging 
that any one, after the said baron, can be worthy to fill it. 

" Frederick. 

"Potsdam, April 1, 1744." 

No man of kindly sympathies could have thus wantonly 
wounded the feelings of a poor old man who had, according to 
his capacity, served himself, his father, and his grandfather, and 
wdio was just dropping into the grave. A generous heart would 
have forgotten the foibles, and, remembering only the virtues, 
would have spoken w T ords of cheer to the world-weary heart, 
seeking a sad refuge in the glooms of the cloister. It must be 
confessed that Frederick often manifested one of the worst traits 
in human nature. He took pleasure in inflicting pain upon 
others. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE INVASION OF BOHEMIA. 



Correspondence between Frederick and Voltaire. — Voltaire's Visit to Frederick. — Domestic 
Habits of the King. — Unavailing Diplomacy of Voltaire. — The New Alliance. — The Renewal 
of War. — The Siege of Prague. — The Advance upon Vienna. — Darkening Prospects. — The 
Pandours. — Divisions in Council. — Sickness of Louis XV. — Energy of Frederick. — Distress 
of the Army. 

The correspondence carried on between Frederick and Vol- 
taire, and their mutual comments, very clearly reveal the rela- 
tions existing between these remarkable men. Frederick was 
well aware that the eloquent pen of the great dramatist and his- 
torian could give him celebrity throughout Europe. Voltaire 
was keenly alive to the consideration that the friendship of a 
monarch could secure to him position and opulence. And yet 
each privately spoke of the other very contemptuously, while in 
the correspondence which passed between them they professed 
for each other the highest esteem and affection. Frederick 
wrote from Berlin as follows to Voltaire : 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 327 

"October 7, 1743. 

" My dear Voltaire, — France has been considered thus far 
as the asylum of unfortunate rnonarchs. I wish that my capital 
should become the temple of great men. Come to it, then, my 
dear Voltaire, and give whatever orders can tend to render a 
residence in it agreeable to you. My wish is to please you, and 
wishing this, my intention is to enter entirely into your views. 

" Choose whatever apartment in our house you like. Regu- 
late yourself all that you want, either for comfort or luxury. 
Make your arrangements in such a way as that you may be hap- 
py and comfortable, and leave it to me to provide for the rest. 
You will be always entirely free, and master to choose your own 
way of life. My only pretension is to enchain you by friend- 
ship and kindness. 

" You will have passports for the post-horses, and whatever 
else you may ask. I hope to see you on Wednesday. I shall 
then profit by the few moments of leisure which remain to me, 
to enlighten myself by the blaze of your powerful genius. I 
entreat you to believe I shall always be the same toward you. 
Adieu: 7 

Voltaire has given a detailed account of the incidents con- 
nected with this visit to his Prussian majesty. It is a humilia- 
ting exhibition of the intrigues and insincerity which animated 
the prominent actors in those scenes. 

" The public affairs in France," writes Voltaire, " continued in 
as bad a state after the death of Cardinal De Fleury as during 
the last two years of his administration. The house of Austria 
rose again from its" ashes. France was cruelly pressed upon by 
that power and by England. No other resource remained to us 
but the chance of regaining the King of Prussia, who, having 
drawn us into the war, had abandoned us as soon as it was con- 
venient to himself so to do. It was thought advisable, under 
these circumstances, that I should' be sent to that monarch to 
sound his intentions, and, if possible, persuade him to avert the 
storm which, after it had first fallen on us, would be sure, sooner 
or later, to fall from Vienna upon him. We also wished to se- 
cure from him the loan of a hundred thousand men, with the as- 
surance that he could thus better secure to himself Silesia. 



328 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

"The minister for foreign affairs was charged to hasten my 
departure. A pretext, however, was necessary. I took that of 
my quarrel with the Bishop Mirepoix. I wrote accordingly to 
the King of Prussia that I could no longer endure the persecu- 
tions of this monk, and that I should take refuge under the pro- 
tection of a philosophical sovereign, far from the disputes of this 
bigot. When I arrived at Berlin the king lodged me in his pal- 
ace, as he had clone in my former journeys. He then led the 
same sort of life which he had always done since he came to the 
throne. He rose at five in summer and six in winter.* A sin- 
gle servant came to light his fire, to dress and shave him. In- 
deed, he dressed himself almost without any assistance. His 
bedroom was a handsome one. A rich and highly ornamented 
balustrade of silver inclosed apparently a bed hung with cur- 
tains, but behind the curtains, instead of a bed, there was a li- 
brary. As for the royal couch, it was a wretched truckle-bed, 
with a thin mattress, behind a screen, in one corner of the room. 
Marcus Aurelius and Julian, his favorite heroes, and the greatest 
men among the Stoics, were not worse lodged." 

The king devoted himself very energetically to business dur- 
ing the morning, and reviewed his troops at eleven o'clock. He 
dined at twelve. 

" After dinner," writes Voltaire, " the king retired alone into 
his cabinet, and made verses till five or six o'clock. A concert 
commenced at seven, in which the king performed on the flute 
as well as the best musician. The pieces of music executed were 
also often of the king's composition. On the days of public cer- 
emonies he exhibited great magnificence. It was a fine spectacle 
to see him at table, surrounded by twenty princes of the empire, 
served on the most beautiful gold plate in Europe, and attended 
by thirty handsome pages, and as many young heyducs, superb- 
ly dressed, and carrying great dishes of massive gold. After 
these banquets the court attended the opera in the great theatre, 
three hundred feet long. The most admirable singers and the 
best dancers were at this time in the pay of the King of Prus- 
sia." 

Voltaire seems to have formed a very different estimate of his 

* Voltaire is proverbially inaccurate in details. It was the king's invariable custom to rise 
at four in summer and six in winter. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 329 

own diplomatic abilities from those expressed by the King of 
Prussia. Voltaire writes: 

" In the midst of fetes, operas, and suppers, my secret negotia- 
tion advanced. The king allowed me to speak to him on all 
subjects. I often intermingled questions respecting France and 
Austria in conversations relating to the ^Eneid and Livy. The 
.discussion was sometimes very animated. At length the king 
said to me, c Let France declare war against England, and I will 
march.' This was all I desired. I returned as quickly as possi- 
ble to the court of France. I gave them the same hopes which 
I had myself been led to entertain at Berlin, and which did not 
prove delusive." 

The fact was, that the diplomacy of Voltaire had probably 
not the slightest influence in guiding the action of the king. 
Frederick had become alarmed in view of the signal successes of 
the armies of Maria Theresa, under her brother-in-law, Prince 
Charles of Lorraine. Several Austrian generals, conspicuous 
among whom was Marshal Traun, were developing great milita- 
ry ability. The armies of Austria had conquered Bohemia and 
Bavaria. The French troops, discomfited in many battles, had 
been compelled to retreat to the western banks of the Rhine, 
vigorously pursued by Prince Charles. The impotent emperor 
Charles Albert, upon whom France had placed the imperial 
crown of Germany, was driven from his hereditary realm, and 
the heart-broken man, in poverty and powerlessness, was an em- 
peror but in name. It was evident that Maria Theresa was 
gathering her strength to reconquer Silesia. She had issued a 
decree that the Elector of Bavaria was not legitimately chosen 
enrperor. It was very manifest that her rapidly increasing in- 
fluence would soon enable her to dethrone the unfortunate 
Charles Albert, and to place the imperial crown upon the brow 
of her husband. 

Under these circumstances, it was evidently impossible for 
Frederick to retain Silesia unless he could again rally France 
and other powers to his aid. It was always easy to rouse France 
against England, its hereditary foe. Thus influenced, Frederick, 
early in the spring of 1744, entered into a new alliance with 
France and the Emperor Charles Albert against Maria Theresa. 
The two marriages which he had so adroitly consummated con- 



330 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

strained Kussia and Sweden to neutrality. While France, "by 
the new treaty, was engaged to assail with the utmost energy 
under the leadership of Louis XV. himself, the triumphant Aus 
trian columns upon the Rhine, Frederick, at the head of one hun 
dred thousand troops, was to drive the Austrians out of Bohe- 
mia, and reseat Charles Albert upon his hereditary throne. For 
this service Frederick was to receive from the Bohemian king 
three important principalities, with their central fortresses near 
upon the borders of Silesia. 

The shrewd foresight of Frederick, and his rapidly developing 
military ability, had kept his army in the highest state of dis- 
cipline, while his magazines were abundantly stored with all 
needful supplies. It was written at the time : 

" Some countries take six months, some twelve, to get in mo- 
tion for war. But in three weeks Prussia can be across the fron- 
tiers and upon the throats of its enemy. Some countries have a 
longer sword than Prussia, but none can unsheath it so soon." 

Public opinion was then much less potent than now ; still it 
was a power. Frederick had two objects in view in again draw- 
ing the sword. One was to maintain possession of Silesia, which 
was seriously menaced; the other was to enlarge his territory, 
and thus to strengthen his hold upon his new conquest, by add- 
ing to Prussia the three important Bohemian principalities of 
Koniggratz, Bunzlau, and Leitmeritz. By a secret treaty, he had 
secured the surrender of these provinces in payment for the as- 
sistance his armies might furnish the allies ; but policy required 
that he should not avow his real motives. He therefore issued 
a manifesto, in which he falsely stated, 

" His Prussian majesty requires nothing for himself He has 
taken up arms simply and solely with the view of restoring to 
the empire its freedom, to the emperor his imperial crown, and 
to all Europe the peace which is so desirable." 

Frederick published his manifesto on the 10th of August, 
1744. Early in the morning of the loth he set out from Pots- 
dam upon this new military expedition. His two eldest broth- 
ers, Augustus William, Prince of Prussia, and Prince Henry, ac- 
companied him. The army entered Bohemia in three columns, 
whose concentrated force amounted to nearly one hundred thou- 
sand men. Frederick in person led the first column, the old 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 331 

Prince Leopold the second, and Marshal Schwerin the third. 
Marching by different routes, they swept all opposition before 
them. On the 4th of September the combined army appeared 
before the walls of Prague. Here, as in every act of Frederick's 
life, his marvelous energy was conspicuous. 

The works were pushed with the utmost vigor. On the 8th 
the siege cannon arrived ; late in the night of Wednesday, the 
9th, they were in position. Immediately they opened their rap- 
id, well-aimed, deadly fire of solid shot and shell from three quar- 
ters — the north, the west, and the east. Frederick, watching the 
bombardment from an eminence, was much exposed to the re- 
turn fire of the Austrians. He called upon others to take care 
of themselves, but seemed regardless of his own personal safety. 
His cousin, Prince William, and a page, were both struck down 
at his side by a cannon-ball. 

On the 16th the battered, smouldering, blood-stained city was 
surrendered, with its garrison of sixteen thousand men. The 
prisoners of war were marched off to Frederick's strong places 
in the north. Prague was compelled to take the oath of alle- 
giance to the emperor, and to pay a ransom of a million of dol- 
lars. Abundant stores of provision and ammunition were found 
in the city. It was a brilliant opening of the campaign. 

The impetuous Frederick made no delay at Prague. The day 
after the capture, leaving five thousand men, under General Ein- 
siedel, to garrison the city, he put his troops in motion, ascend- 
ing the right bank of the Moldau. It would seem that he was 
about to march boldly upon Vienna. Wagons of meal, drawn 
by oxen, followed, the army. The heavy artillery was left be- 
hind. The troops were forced along as rapidly as possible. 
They advanced in two columns. One was led by Frederick, and 
the other by young Leopold. The country through which they 
passed was dreary, desolate, barren in the extreme — a wild waste 
of precipitous rocks, and bogs, and tangled forest. The roads 
were wretched. No forage could be obtained. The starved 
oxen were continually dropping, exhausted, by the way; the 
path of the army w T as marked by their carcasses. 

It was but sixty miles from Prague to Tabor. The march of 
Frederick's division led through Kunraditz, across the Sazawa 
River, through Bistritz and Miltchin. It was not until the ninth 



332 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



day of their toilsome march that the steeples of Tabor were de- 
scried, in the distant horizon, on its high, scarped rock. Here 
both columns united. Half of the draught cattle had perished 
by the way, and half of the wagons had been abandoned. 

The prospects of Frederick were now gloomy. The bright 
morning of the campaign had darkened into a stormy day. The 
barren region around afforded no supplies. The inhabitants 
were all Catholics; they hated the heretics. Inspired by their 
priests, they fled from their dwellings, taking with them or de- 
stroying every thing which could aid the Prussian army. But 
most annoying of all, the bold, sagacious chieftain, General Bath- 
yani, with hordes of Pandours which could not be counted — 
horsemen who seemed to have the vitality and endurance of cen- 
taurs — was making deadly assaults upon every exposed point. 




THE PANDOUKS. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 333 

" Such a swarm of hornets as darkens the very daylight !" 
writes Carlyle. " Vain to scourge them down, to burn them off 
by blaze of gunpowder ; they fly fast, but are straightway back 
again. They lurk in these bushy wildernesses, scraggy woods ; 
no foraging possible unless whole regiments are sent out to do 
it ; you can not get a letter safely carried for them." 

Thus Frederick found himself in a barren, hostile country, with 
a starving army, incessantly assailed by a determined foe, grop- 
ing his way in absolute darkness, and with the greatest difficul- 
ty communicating even with his own divisions, at the* distance 
of but a few leagues. He knew not from what direction to an- 
ticipate attack, or how formidable might be his assailants. He 
knew not whether the French, on the other side of the Ehine, 
had abandoned him to his own resources, or were marching to 
his rescue. He knew that they were as supremely devoted to 
their own interests as he was to his, and that they would do 
nothing to aid him, unless by so doing they could efficiently ben- 
efit themselves. 

As is usual under such circumstances, a quarrel arose among 
his officers. Young Leopold proposed one plan, Marshal Schwe- 
rin another. They were both bold, determined men. Frederick 
found it difficult to keep the peace between them. It was now 
October. Winter, with its piercing gales, and ice, and snow, was 
fast approaching. It was necessary to seek winter quarters. 
Frederick, with the main body of his army, took possession of 
Budweis, on the Upper Moldau. A detachment was stationed 
at Neuhaus, about thirty miles northeast of Budweis. 

It will be remembered that Prince Charles was at the head of 
a strong Austrian army, on the western banks of the Rhine. It 
numbered over fifty thousand combatants. The King of France 
had pledged himself to press them closely, so that they could 
not recross the Rhine and rush into Bohemia to thwart the op- 
erations of Frederick ; but, unfortunately, Louis XV was seized 
with a malignant fever, which brought him near to the grave. 
Taking advantage of this, Prince Charles, on the night of the 23d 
of August, crossed the Rhine with his whole army. It was 
bright moonlight, so that every movement was as visible as if it 
had been made by day. But the French officers, glad thus to 
be rid of the Austrian army, preferring much that Frederick 



334 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

should encounter it in Bohemia than that they should struggle 
against it on the Rhine, went quietly to their beds, even forbid- 
ding the more zealous subalterns from harassing Prince Charles 
in his passage of the river. It was then the great object of the 
French to take Freyburg. The withdrawal of Prince Charles, 
with his fifty thousand men, was a great relief to them. 

While Frederick was involved in all these difficulties, he was 
cheered by the hope that the French would soon come to his 
rescue. Unutterable was his chagrin when he learned, early in 
October, that the French had done exactly as he would have 
done in their circumstances. Appalling, indeed, were the tidings 
soon brought to him, that Prince Charles, with his army, had 
marched unmolested into Bohemia; that he had already effected 
a junction with General Bathyani and his countless swarm of 
Pandours ; and, moreover, that a Saxon army, twenty thousand 
strong, in alliance with the Queen of Hungary, was on the way 
to join his already overwhelming foes. It was reported, at the 
same time, that Prince Charles was advancing upon Budweis, 
and that his advance-guard had been seen, but a few miles off, 
on the western side of the Moldau. 

The exigency demanded the most decisive action, Frederick 
promptly gathered his army, and dashed across the Moldau, re- 
solved, with the energies of despair, to smite down the troops of 
Prince Charles ; but no foe could be found. For four days he 
sought for them in vain. He then learned that the Austrian 
army had crossed the Moldau several miles north of him, thus 
cutting off his communications w T ith Prague. 

Though Prince Charles was nominally commander-in-chief of 
the Austrian forces, Marshal Traun, as we have mentioned, was 
its military head. He was, at that time, far Frederick's superior 
in the art of war. Frederick had sufficient intelligence and can- 
dor to recognize that superiority. "When he heard of this adroit 
movement of his foes, he exclaimed, " Old Traun understands his 
trade." 

Prince Charles was now forming magazines at Beneschau, just 
south of the Sazawa Biver, about seventy miles north of Fred- 
erick's encampment at Budweis. Frederick hastily recrossed the 
Moldau, and, marching through Bechin, concentrated nearly all 
his forces at Tabor. He hoped by forced marches to take the 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 335 

Austrians by surprise, and capture their magazines at Beneschau. 
Thousands, rumor said fourteen thousand, of the wild Pandours, 
riding furiously, hovered around his line of march. They were 
in his front, on his rear, and upon his flanks. Ever refusing bat- 
tle, they attacked every exposed point with the utmost ferocity. 
The Prussian king thus found himself cut off from Prague, with 
i exhausted magazines, and forage impossible. He had three hun- 
dred sick in his hospitals. He could not think of abandoning 
them, and yet he had no means for their transportation. 

The salvation of the army seemed to depend upon capturing 
the Austrian magazines at Beneschau. Marshal Schwerin was 
sent forward with all speed, at the head of a strong detachment, 
and was so lucky as to take Beneschau. Here he intrenched 
himself. Frederick, upon hearing the glad tidings, immediately 
started from Tabor to join him. His sick were at Fraunberg, 
Budweis, and Neuhaus, some dozen miles south of Tabor. Gar- 
risons, amounting to three thousand men, had been left to pro- 
tect them from the Pandours. As Frederick was about to aban- 
don that whole region, it was manifest that these garrisons could 
not maintain themselves. He dispatched eight messengers in 
succession to summon the troops immediately to join him. The 
sick were to be left to their fate. It was one of the cruel neces- 
sities of war. But not one of these messengers escaped capture 
by the Pandours. Frederick commenced his march without these 
garrisons. The three thousand fighting men, with the three hun- 
dred sick, all fell into the hands of the Pandours. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE RETREAT. 

The Retreat ordered. — Awful Suffering. — Narrow Escape of the King. — The Flight from 
Prague. — Military Mistakes of the King. — Frederick returns to Berlin. — His wonderful 
administrative Ability. — Poland joins Austria. — The Austrians enter Silesia, — Unreasona- 
ble Demands of Frederick. — Humiliation of the King. — Prince Charles and his Bride. — 
Character of Leopold. — Death of the Emperor. — Bavaria turns against Frederick. — Anec- 
dotes of Prince Leopold. — Peril of Frederick. — Battle of Hohenfriedberg. — Signal Victory 
of Frederick. 

Frederick concentrated his army at Konopischt, very near 
Beneschau. He could bring into the field sixty thousand men. 
Prince Charles was at the head of seventy thousand. In vain 



336 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

the Prussian king strove to bring his foes to a pitched battle. 
Adroitly Prince Charles avoided any decisive engagement. 
Frederick was fifty miles from Prague. The roads were quag- 
mires. November gales swept his camp. A foe, superior in 
numbers, equal in bravery, surrounded him on all sides. The 
hostile army was led by a general whose greater military ability 
Frederick acknowledged. 

A council of war was held. It was decided to commence an 
immediate and rapid retreat to Silesia. Prague, with its garri- 
son of five thousand men, and its siege artillery, was to be aban- 
doned to its fate. Word was sent to General Einsiedel to spike 
his guns, blow up his bastions, throw his ammunition into the 
river, and to escape, if possible, down the valley of the Moldau, 
to Leitmeritz. 

Frederick divided his retreating army into two columns. 
One, led by the young Leopold, was to retire through Glatz. 
The other, led by Frederick, traversed a road a few leagues to 
the west, passing through Koniggratz. It was an awful retreat 
for both these divisions — through snow, and sleet, and mud, hun- 
gry, weary, freezing, with swarms of Pandours hanging upon 
their rear. Thousands perished by the way. The horrors of 
such a retreat no pen can describe. Their very guides deserted 
them, and became spies, to report their movements to the foe. 

On one occasion the king himself narrowly escaped being taken 
prisoner. One of his officers, General Trenck, gives the follow- 
ing graphic narrative of the incident : 

" One day the king entered the town of Collin, with his horse 
and foot guard and the whole of the baggage. We had but 
four small field-pieces with us. The squadron to which I be- 
longed was placed in the suburb. In the evening our advanced 
posts were driven back into the town, and the huzzas of the 
enemy followed them pell-mell. All the country around was 
covered with the light troops of the Austrians. My comman- 
dant sent me to the king to take his orders. 

" After a long search, I at length found him in a tower of a 
church, with a telescope in his hand. Never had I seen him in 
so much perplexity and anxiety as at this moment. The order 
he gave me was, ' You must get out of this scrape as well as 
you can.' I had hardly got back to my post when his adjutant 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



337 




THE KIXG IN THE TOWER AT COLLIX. 



followed rue with a new order to cross the town, and to remain 
on horseback with my squadron in the opposite suburb. 

"We had just arrived there when it began to rain heavily, 
and the night became exceedingly dark. About nine o'clock 
one of the Austrian generals approached us with his light troops, 
and set fire to the houses close to w r hich we were posted. By 
the blaze of the conflagration he soon discovered us, and began 
firing at us from the windows. The town was so full that it 
was impossible for us to find a place in it. Besides, the gate 
was barricaded, and from the top they were firing at us with 
our small field-pieces, which they had captured. 

" In the mean time the Austrians had turned in upon us a riv- 
ulet, and by midnight we found our horses in the water up to 
their bellies. We were really incapable of defending ourselves." 

Y 



338 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Just at that time, when all hope seemed lost, it so happened 
that a cannon-ball crushed the foot of the Austrian, commander. 
This disaster, together with the darkness and the torrents of rain, 
caused the fire of the enemy to cease. The next morning some 
Prussian re-enforcements came to the rescue of the king, and he 
escaped. 

It was on the night of the 25th of November, cold and dreary, 
that General Einsiedel commenced his retreat from Prague. He 
pushed his wagon trains out before him, and followed with his 
horse and foot. The Austrians were on the alert. Their light 
horsemen came clattering into the city ere the rear-guard had 
left. The Catholic populace of the city, being in sympathy with 
the Austrians, immediately joined the Pandours in a fierce at- 
tack upon the Prussians. The retreating columns were torn by 
a terrific fire from the windows of the houses, from bridges, from 
boats, from every point whence a bullet could reach them. But 
the well-drilled Prussians met the shock with the stern compos- 
ure of machines, leaving their path strewn with the dying and 
the dead. 

The heroic General Einsiedel struggled along through the 
snow and over the pathless hills, pursued and pelted every hour 
by the indomitable foe. He was often compelled to abandon 
baggage-wagons and ambulances containing the sick, while the 
wounded and the exhausted sank freezing by the way. At one 
time he was so crowded by the enemy that he was compelled 
to continue his march through the long hours of a wintry night, 
by the light of pitch-pine torches. After this awful retreat of 
twenty days, an emaciate, ragged, frostbitten band crossed the 
frontier into Silesia, near Friedland. They were soon united 
with the other columns of the discomfited and almost' ruined 
army. 

It will generally be admitted by military men that Frederick 
did not display much ability of generalship in this campaign. 
He was fearless, indomitable in energy, and tireless in the en- 
durance of fatigue, but in generalship he was entirely eclipsed 
by his formidable rival. Indeed, Frederick could not be blind 
to this, and he had sufficient candor to confess it. Subsequent- 
ly, giving an account of these transactions in his "Works," he 
writes: 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 339 

" No general has committed more faults than did the king in 
this campaign. The conduct of Marshal Traun is a model of 
perfection, which every soldier who loves his business ought to 
study, and try to imitate if he have the talent. The king has 
admitted that he himself regarded this campaign as his school 
in the art of war, and Marshal Traun as his teacher." 

He then adds the philosophical reflection : " Bad is often bet- 
ter for princes than good. Instead of intoxicating them with 
presumption, it renders them circumspect and modest."* 

Frederick, leaving his army safe for a short time, quartered, as 
he supposed, for the winter, in his strong fortresses of Silesia, re- 
turned hastily to Berlin. It was necessary for him to make im- 
mediate preparation for another campaign. "From December 
13, 1744," writes Carlyle, "when he hastened home to Berlin, 
under such aspects, to June 4, 1745, when aspects suddenly 
changed, are probably the worst six months Frederick had yet 
had in the world."f 

His wintry ride, a defeated monarch leaving a shattered army 
behind him, must have been dark and dreary. He had already 
exhausted nearly all the resources which his father, Frederick 
William, had accumulated. His army was demoralized, weak- 
ened, and his materiel of war greatly impaired. His subjects 
were already heavily taxed. Though practicing the most rigid 
economy, with his eye upon every expenditure, his disastrous 
Bohemian campaign had cost him three hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars a month. The least sum with which he could com- 
mence a new campaign for the protection of Silesia was four mil- 
lion five hundred thousand dollars. He had already melted up 
the sumptuous plate, and the massive silver balustrades and bal- 
conies where his father had deposited so much solid treasure. 

. " It was in these hours of apparently insurmountable difficulty 
* that the marvelous administrative genius of Frederick was dis- 
played. No modern reader can imagine the difficulties of Fred- 
erick at this time as they already lay disclosed, and kept gradu- 
ally disclosing themselves, for months coming; nor will ever 
know what perspicacity, what patience of scanning, sharpness of 

* " In his retreat Frederick is reported to have lost above thirty thousand men, together with 
most of his heavy baggage and artillery, and many wagons laden with provisions and plunder." 
— Tower's Life and Reign of Frederick, vol. i., p. 209. 

t Carlyle, vol. iv. , p. 50. 



340 EREDERICK THE GREAT. 

discernment, dexterity of management, were required at Freder- 
ick's hands ; and under what imminency of peril too — victorious 
deliverance or ruin and annihilation, wavering fearfully in the 
balance, for him more than once, or rather all along."* 

To add to the embarrassments of Frederick, the King of Po- 
land, entirely under the control of his minister Briihl, who hated 
Frederick, entered into an alliance with Maria Theresa, and en- 
gaged to furnish her with thirty thousand troops, who were to 
be supported by the sea powers England and Holland, who 
were also in close alliance with Austria. 

Maria Theresa, greatly elated by her success in driving the 
Prussians out of Bohemia, resolved immediately, notwithstand- 
ing the. severity of the season, to push her armies through the 
" Giant Mountains" for the reconquering of Silesia. She order- 
ed her generals to press on with the utmost energy and overrun 
the whole country. At the same time she issued a manifesto, 
declaring that the treaty of Breslau was a treaty no longer; 
that the Silesians were absolved from all oaths of allegiance to 
the King of Prussia, and that they were to hold themselves in 
readiness to take the oath anew to the Queen of Hungary. 

On the 18th of December a strong Austrian army entered Si- 
lesia and took possession of the country of Glatz. The Prussian 
troops were withdrawn in good order to their strong fortresses 
on the Oder. The old Prince Leopold, the cast iron man, called 
the Old Dessauer, the most inflexible of mortals, was left in com- 
mand of the Prussian troops. He was, however, quite seriously 
alienated from Frederick. A veteran soldier, having spent his 
lifetime on fields of blood, and having served the monarchs of 
Prussia when Frederick was but a child, and who had been the 
military instructor of the young prince, he deemed himself en- 
titled to consideration which an inexperienced officer might not 
command. In one of the marches to which we have referred, 
Leopold ventured to take a route different from that which 
Frederick had prescribed to him. In the following terms the 
Prussian king reprimanded him for his disobedienca: 

" I am greatly surprised that your excellency does not more 
accurately follow my orders. If you were more skillful than 
Cassar, and did not with strict fidelity obey my directions, all 

* Carlyle, vol. iv., p. 7G. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 341 

else were of no help to nie. I hope this notice, once for all, will 
be enough, and that in future you will give no cause for com- 
plaint." 

Prince Leopold was keenly wounded by this reproof. Though 
he uttered not a word in self-defense, he was ever after, in the 
presence of his majesty, very silent, distant, and reserved. Though 
scrupulously faithful in every duty, he compelled the king to 
feel that an impassable wall of separation had risen up between 
them. He was seeking for an honorable pretext to withdraw 
from his majesty's service. 

Frederick had hardly reached Berlin ere he was astonished to 
learn, from dispatches from the Old Dessauer, that the Austrians, 
not content with driving him out of Bohemia, had actually in- 
vaded Silesia. Amazed, or affecting amazement, at such audaci- 
ty, he sent reiterated and impatient orders to his veteran gener- 
al to fall immediately upon the insolent foe and crush him. 

" Hurl them out," he wrote. " Gather twenty, thirty thousand 
men, if need be. Let there be no delay. I will as soon be pitch- 
ed out of Brandenburg as out of Silesia." 

But it was much easier for Frederick to issue these orders 
than for Leopold to execute them. As Leopold could not, in a 
day, gather sufficient force to warrant an attack upon the Aus- 
trians, the king was greatly irritated, and allowed himself to 
write to Leopold in a strain of which he must afterward have 
been much ashamed. On the 19th he addressed a note to the 
veteran officer couched in the following terms : 

"On the 21st I leave Berlin, and mean to be at Neisse on the 
24th at least. Your excellency Avill, in the mean time, make out 
the order of battle for the regiments which have come in. For 
I will, on the 25th, without delay, cross the Neisse, and attack 
those people, cost what it may, and chase them out of Silesia, 
and follow them as far as possible. You will, therefore, take 
measure and provide every thing, that the project may be exe- 
cuted the moment I arrive." 

In this fiery humor, the king leaped upon his horse and gal- 
loped to Schweidnitz. Here he met the Old Dessauer. He must 
have been not a little mortified to learn that his veteran general 
was right, and he utterly in the wrong. Prince Charles had re- 
turned home. Marshal Traun was in command of the Austrians. 



342 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

He had a compact army of 20,000 men, "flushed wit li victory and 
surrounded by countless thousands of Pandours, who veiled every 
movement from view. He had established himself in an im- 
pregnable position on the south side of the Neisse, where he 
could not be assailed, with any prospect of success, by the force 
which Leopold could then summon to his aid. 

Frederick was silenced, humiliated. He returned to Berlin, 
having accomplished nothing, and having lost four days in his 
fruitless adventure. Leopold was left to accumulate his re- 
sources as rapidly as he could, and to attack the Austrians at 
his discretion. 

Prince Charles had married the only sister of Maria Theresa. 
She was young, beautiful, and amiable. While the prince was 
conducting his arduous campaign on the Moldau, his wife, grief- 
stricken, consigned her new-born babe to the tomb. The little 
stranger, born in the absence of his father, had but opened his 
eyes upon this sad world when he closed them forever. The 
princess sank rapidly into a decline. 

Charles, feeling keenly the bereavement, and alarmed for the 
health of his wife, whom he loved most tenderly, hastened to his 
-home in Brussels. The prince and princess were vice-regents, or 
"joint governors" of the Netherlands. The decline of the prin- 
cess was very rapid. On the 16th of December, the young prince, 
with flooded eyes, a broken-hearted man, followed the remains of 
his beloved companion to their burial. Charles never recovered 
from the blow. He had been the happiest of husbands. He 
sank into a state of deep despondency, and could never be in- 
duced to wed again. Though in April he resumed, for a time, 
the command of the army, his energies were wilted, his spirit 
saddened, and he soon passed into oblivion. This is 'but one 
among the countless millions of the unwritten tragedies of hu- 
man life. 

On the 9th of January, Leopold, having gathered a well-fur- 
nished army of 25,000 men, crossed the Neisse to attack Marshal 
Traun. The marshal did not deem it prudent to hazard a bat- 
tle. Large bodies of troops were soon to be sent to re-enforce 
' him. He therefore retired by night toward the south, breaking 
the bridges behind him. Though Silesia was thus delivered from 
the main body of the Austrian army, the fleet-footed Pandours 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



343 



remained, scouring the country on their shaggy horses, plunder- 
ing and destroying. The energetic, tireless Old Dessauer could 
seldom get a shot at them. But they harassed his army, keep- 
ing the troops constantly on the march amidst the storms and 
the freezing cold. 

" The old serene highness himself, face the color of gunpowder, 
and bluer in the winter frost, went rushing far and wide in an 
open vehicle which he called his ' cart,' pushing out his detach- 
ments ; supervising every thing ; wheeling hither and thither as 
needful ; sweeping out the Pandour world, and keeping it out ; 
not much fighting needed, but ' a great deal of marching,' mur- 
murs Frederick, ' which in winter is as bad, and wears down the 
force of battalions.' "* 




PRINCE LEOPOLD INSPECTING THE ARM IN HIS CAKT. 



We seldom hear from Frederick any recognition of God. But 
on this occasion, perhaps out of regard to the feelings of his sub- 
jects, he ordered the Te Deiim to be sung in the churches of Ber- 
lin " for the deliverance of Silesia from invasion." 

On the 20th of January, 1745, Charles Albert, the unhappy 

* Carlyle, vol. iv. , p. 54. 



344 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

and ever-unfortunate Emperor of Germany, died at Munich, in 
the forty-eighth year of his age. Tortured by a complication of 
the most painful disorders, he had seldom, for weary years, en- 
joyed an hour of freedom from acute pain. An incessant series 
of disasters crushed all his hopes. He was inextricably involved 
in debt. Triumphant foes drove him from his realms. He wan- 
dered a fugitive in foreign courts, exposed to humiliation and 
the most cutting indignities. Thus the victim of bodily and 
mental anguish, it is said that one day some new tidings of dis- 
aster prostrated him upon the bed of death. He was patient 
and mild, but the saddest of mortals. Gladly he sought refuge 
in the tomb from the storms of his drear and joyless life. An 
eye-witness writes, " Charles Albert's pious and affectionate de- 
meanor drew tears from all eyes. The manner in which he took 
leave of his empress w^ould have melted a heart of stone." 

" The death of the emperor," says Frederick, " was the only 
event wanting to complete the confusion and embroilment which 
already existed in the political relations of the European powers." 

Maximilian Joseph, son of the emperor, was at the time of his 
father's death but seventeen years of age. He was titular Elect- 
or of Bavaria ; but Austrian armies had overrun the electorate, 
and he was a fugitive from his dominions. At the entreaty of 
his mother, he entered into a treaty of alliance with the Queen 
of Hungary. She agreed to restore to him his realms, and to 
recognize his mother as empress dowager. He, on the other 
hand, agreed to support the Pragmatic Sanction, and to give his 
vote for the Grand-duke Francis as Emperor of Germany. 

Thus Bavaria turned against Frederick. It was manifest to 
all that Maria Theresa, aided by the alliances into which she had 
entered, and sustained by the gold which the English cabinet so 
generously lavished upon her, would be able to place the impe- 
rial crown upon her husband's brow. It was equally evident 
that the sceptre of power, of which that crown was the emblem, 
would be entirely in her own hands. 

Frederick had now France only for an ally. But France was 
seeking her own private interests on the Rhine, as Frederick was 
aiming at the aggrandizement of Prussia on his Austrian front- 
iers. Neither party was disposed to make any sacrifice for the 
benefit of the other. Frederick, thus thrown mainly upon his 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 345 

own resources, with an impoverished treasury, and a weakened 
and baffled army, made indirect application to both England and 
Austria for peace. But both of these courts, flushed with suc- 
cess, were indisposed to listen to any terms which Frederick 
would propose. 

There was nothing left for his Prussian majesty but to aban- 
don Silesia, and retire within his own original borders, defeated 
and humiliated, the object of the contempt and ridicule of Eu- 
rope, or to press forward in the conflict, summoning to his aid 
all the energies of despair. 

Old Prince Leopold of Dessau, whom he had left in command 
of the army in Silesia, was one of the most extraordinary men 
of any age. He invented the iron ramrod, and also all modern 
military tactics. " The soldiery of every civilized country still 
receives from this man, on the parade-fields and battle-fields, its 
word of command. Out of his rough head proceeded the essen- 
tial of all that the innumerable drill-sergeants in various lan- 
guages repeat and enforce."* 

Dessau w~as a little independent principality embracing a few 
square miles, about eighty miles southwest of Prussia. The 
prince had a Liliputian army, and a revenue of about fifty thou- 
sand dollars. Leopold's mother was the sister of the great 
Elector of Brandenburg's first wife. The little principality was 
thus, by matrimonial alliance as well as location, in affinity with 
Prussia. 

Leopold, in early youth, fell deeply in love with a beautiful 
young lady, Mademoiselle Fos. She was the daughter of an 
apothecary. His aristocratic friends were shocked at the idea 
of so unequal a marriage. The sturdy will of Leopold was un- 
yielding. They sent him away, under a French tutor, to take 
the grand tour of Europe. After an absence of fourteen months 
he returned. The first thing he did was to call upon Mademoi- 
selle Fos. After that, he called upon his widowed mother. It 
was in vain to resist the will of such a man. In 1698 he mar- 
ried her, and soon, by his splendid military services, so ennobled 
his bride that all were ready to do her homage. For half a cen- 
tury she was his loved and honored spouse, attending him in all 
his campaigns. 

* Carlyle, vol. i.,p. 302. 



346 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

With a tender heart, Leopold was one of the most stern and 
rugged of men. Spending his whole life amidst the storms of 
battle, he seemed ever insensible to fatigue, and regardless of all 
physical comforts. And yet there was a vein of truly feminine 
gentleness and tenderness in his heart, which made him one of 
the most loving of husbands and fathers. 

His young daughter Louisa, bride of Victor Leopold, reigning 
Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, lay dying of a decline. A few days 
before her death she said, "I wish I could see my father at the 
head of his regiment once again before I die." The remark was 
reported to Leopold. He was then with his regiment at Halle, 
thirty miles distant. Immediately the troops were called out, 
and marched at rapid pace to Bernburg. With banners flying, 
music playing, and all customary display of military pomp, they 
entered the court-yard of the palace. The dying daughter, pale 
and emaciate, sat at the window. The war-worn father rose in 
his stirrups to salute his child, and then put his regiment through 
all its most interesting manoeuvrings. The soldiers were then 
marched to the orphan-house, where the common men were treat- 
ed with bread and beer, all the officers dining at the prince's ta- 
ble. " All the officers except Leopold alone, who stole away out 
of the crowd, sat himself upon the Saale bridge, and wept into 
the river." 

Leopold was now seventy years of age. On the 5th of Feb- 
ruary his much -loved wife died at Dessau. Leopold, infirm in 
health, and broken with grief, entreated the king to allow him 
to go home. He could not, of course, be immediately spared. 

On the 15th of March Frederick left Berlin for Silesia, Stop- 
ping to examine some of his works at Glogau and Breslau, he 
reached JSTeisse on the 23d. On the 29th he dismissed the Old 
Dessauer, with many expressions of kindness and sympathy, to 
go home to recover his health. 

" Old Leopold is hardly at home at Dessau," writes Carlyle, 
" when the new Pandour tempests, tides of ravaging war, again 
come beating against the Giant Mountains, pouring through all 
passes, huge influx of wild riding hordes, each with some sup- 
port of Austrian grenadiers, cannoniers, threatening to submerge 
Silesia. Precursors, Frederick need not doubt, of a strenuous, 
regular attempt that way. Hungarian majesty's fixed inten- 



EEEDEEICK THE GEEAT. 347 

tion, hope, and determination is to expel him straightway from 
Silesia."* 

The latter part of April Prince Charles had gathered a large 
force of Austrian regulars at Olnriitz, with the manifest inten- 
tion of again invading Silesia. The King of Poland had entered 
into cordial alliance with Austria, and was sending a large army 
of Saxon troops to co-operate in the enterprise. Frederick's in- 
dignation was great, and his peril still greater. Encamped in 
the valley of the Neisse, assailed on every side, and menaced 
with still more formidable foes, he dispatched orders to the Old 
Dessauer immediately to establish an army of observation (thir- 
ty thousand strong) upon the frontiers of Saxony. He was to 
be prepared instantly, upon the Saxon troops leaving Saxony, 
to ravage the country with the most merciless plunderings of war. 

The Queen of Hungary had purchased the co-operation of the 
Polish king by offering to surrender to him a generous portion 
of Silesia after the province should have been reconquered. In- 
deed, there was a great cause of apprehension that the allied 
army would make a rush upon Berlin itself. The aspect of his 
Prussian majesty's affairs was now gloomy in the extreme. 

Frederick wrote to his minister Podewils in Berlin, under date 
of Neisse, March 29, 1745, as follows: "We find ourselves in a 
great crisis. If we don't by mediation of England get peace, our 
enemies from different sides will come plunging in against me. 
Peace I can not force them to. But if we must have war, we 
will either beat them, or none of us will ever see Berlin again." 

On the 17th of April again he wrote, still from Neisse: "I 
toil day and night to improve our situation. The soldiers will 
do their duty. There is none among us who will not rather 
have his back -bone broken than give up one foot -breadth of 
ground. They must either grant us a good peace, or we will 
surpass ourselves by miracles of daring, and force the enemy to 
accept it from us." 

On the 20th of April he wrote: " Our situation is disagreea- 
ble, but my determination is taken. If we needs must fight, we 
will do it like men driven desperate. Never was there a greater 
peril than that I am now in. Time, at its own pleasure, will un- 
tie this knot, or destiny, if there is one, determine the event. The 

* Carlyle, vol. iv.,p. 80. 



348 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

game I play is so high, one can not contemplate the issue with 
cold blood. Pray for the return of my good luck."" 

The alarm in Berlin was very great. The citizens were awake 
to the consciousness that there was danger ; that the city itself 
would be assaulted. Great was the consternation in the capital 
when minute directions came from Frederick respecting the 
course to be pursued in the event of such a calamity, and the 
pi aces of refuge to which the royal family should retreat. 

On the 26th of April Frederick again wrote to M. Podewils: 
" I can understand how you are getting uneasy at Berlin. I have 
the most to lose of you all, but I am quiet and prepared for 
events. If the Saxons take part in the invasion of Silesia, and 
we beat them, I am determined to plunge into Saxony. For great 
maladies there need great remedies. Either I will maintain my 
all or else lose my all. To me remains only to possess myself 
in patience. If all alliances, resources, and negotiations fail, and 
all conjunctures go against me, I prefer to perish with honor 
rather than lead an inglorious life, deprived of all dignity. My 
ambition whispers me that I have done more than another to the 
building up of my house, and have played a distinguished part 
among the crowned heads of Europe. To maintain myself there 
has become, as it were, a personal duty, which I will fulfill at the 
expense of my happiness and my life. I have no choice left. I 
will maintain my power, or it may go to ruin, and the Prussian 
name be buried under it. If the enemy attempt any thing upon 
us, we will either beat them, or will all be hewed to pieces for 
the sake of our country and the renown of Brandenburg. No 
other counsel can I listen to. Perform faithfully the given work 
on your side, as I on mine. For the rest, let what you call Prov- 
idence decide as it likes. I prepare myself for every event. For- 
tune may be kind or be unkind, it shall neither dishearten me 
nor uplift me. If I am to perish, let it be with honor, and sword 
in hand." 

Frederick was, with great energy, gathering all his resources 
for a decisive conflict in his fortresses along the banks of the 
Neisse. By almost superhuman exertions he had collected an 
army there of about seventy thousand men. The united army 
of Austria and Saxony marching upon him amounted to one 
hundred thousand regulars, together with uncounted swarms of 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 349 

Pandours sweeping around him in all directions, interrupting his 
communications and cutting off his supplies. 

The mountain range upon the south, which separated Silesia 
from the realms of the Queen of Hungary, was three or four 
hundred miles long, with some twenty defiles practicable for the 
passage of troops. The French minister Valori urged Frederick 
to guard these passes. This was impossible ; and the self-confi- 
dence of the Prussian king is revealed in his reply : " My friend, 
if you wish to catch the mouse, you must not shut the trap, but 
leave it open." 

The latter part of May, Frederick, in his head-quarters at 
Frankenstein, learned that an Austrian army under Prince 
Charles, and a Saxon army under the Duke of Weissenfels, in 
columns, by strict count seventy-five thousand strong, had defiled 
through the passes of the Giant Mountains, and entered Silesia 
near Landshut. Day after day he ascended an eminence, and, 
with his glass, anxiously scanned the horizon, to detect signs of 
the approach of the foe. On Thursday morning, June 3, an im- 
mense cloud of dust in the distance indicated that the decisive 
hour was at hand. 

As this magnificent army entered upon the smooth and beau- 
tiful fields of Southern Silesia they shook out their banners, and 
with peals of music gave expression to their confidence of victo- 
ry. The Austrian officers pitched their tents on a hill near Ho- 
henfriedberg, where they feasted and drank their wine, while, 
during the long and beautiful June afternoon, they watched the 
onward sweep of their glittering host. " The Austrian and Sax- 
on army," writes an eye-witness, " streamed out all the afternoon, 
each regiment or division taking the place appointed it ; all the 
afternoon, till late in the night, submerging the country as in a 
deluge." 

Far away in the east the Austrian officers discerned a Prus- 
sian column of observation, consisting of about twelve thousand 
horse and foot, wending along from hollow to height, their pol- 
ished weapons flashing back the rays of the afternoon sun. 
Frederick, carefully examining the ground, immediately made 
arrangements to bring forward his troops under curtain of the 
night for a decisive battle. His orderlies were silently dispatch- 
ed in all directions. At eight o'clock the whole army was in 



350 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



motion. His troops were so concentrated that the farthest di- 
visions had a march of only nine miles. Silently, not a word 
being spoken, not a pipe being lighted, and all the baggage be- 
ing left behind, they crossed the bridge of the Striegau River, 
and, deploying to the right and the left, took position in front 
of the slumbering allied troops. 




BATTLE OF HOHENFRIEDBERG, JUNE 4, 174:5. 

a a. Austrian Army. b. Prince Weissenfels. c e. Prussian Army. d. Dumoulin. e. Gesler's Dragoons. 

With the first dawn of the morning, the two armies, in close 
contact, rushed furiously upon each other. There were seventy 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 351 

thousand on the one side, seventy-five thousand on the other. 
They faced each other in lines over an undulating plain nearly 
ten miles in extent. It is in vain to attempt to give the reader 
an adequate idea of the terrible battle which ensued. With 
musketry, artillery, gleaming sabres, and rushing horsemen, the 
infuriate hosts dashed upon each other. For fifteen hours the 
blood-red surges of battle swept to and fro over the plain. At 
length Prince Charles, having lost nine thousand in dead and 
wounded, seven thousand prisoners, sixteen thousand in all, six- 
ty-six cannon, seventy-three flags and standards, beat a retreat. 
Kapidly his bleeding and exhausted troops marched back 
through Hohenfriedberg, entered the mountain defiles, and 
sought refuge, a thoroughly beaten army, among the fortresses 
of Bohemia. Frederick remained the undisputed victor of the 
field. Five thousand of his brave soldiers lay dead or wounded 
upon the plain. Even his stoical heart was moved by the great- 
ness of the victory. As he first caught sight of M.Valori after 
the battle, he threw his arms around him, exclaiming, " My friend, 
God has helped me wonderfully this day." 

" There was, after all," says Valori, " at times a kind of devout 
feeling in this prince, who possessed such a combination of qual- 
ities, good and bad, that I know not which preponderates." 

The Prussian army was so exhausted by its midnight march 
and its long day of battle that his majesty did not deem it wise 
to attempt to pursue the retreating foe. For this he has been 
severely, we think unjustly, censured by some military men. 
He immediately, that evening, wrote to his mother, saying, u So 
decisive a defeat has not been since Blenheim," and assuring her 
that the two princes, her sons, who had accompanied him to the 
battle, were safe. Such was the battle of Hohenfriedberg, once 
of world-wide renown, now almost forgotten. 



352 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

BATTLES AND VICTORIES. 

Battle of Hohenfriedberg. — Religious Antagonism. — Anecdote of the King. — Retreat of the 
Austrians. — Horrors of War. — "A slight Pleasantry." — Sufferings of the Prussian Army. — 
The Victory ofFontenoy. — Frederick's Pecuniary Embarrassments. — Executive Abilities of 
Maria Theresa. — Inflexibility of the Austrian Queen. — The Retreat to Silesia. — The Surprise 
at Sohr. — Military Genius of Frederick. — Great Victory of Sohr. 

The decisive battle of Hohenfriedberg, by which victory 
Frederick probably escaped utter destruction, was fought on the 
4th of June, 1745. From early dawn to the evening twilight of 
the long summer's day the dreadful work of slaughter had con- 
tinued without a moment's intermission. As the Austrians, hav- 
ing lost nearly one fourth of their number, retreated, the Prus- 
sians, in utter exhaustion, threw themselves upon the ground for 
sleep. The field around them was covered with fourteen thou- 
sand of "the wounded, the dying, and the dead. 

Early the next morning Frederick commenced the vigorous 
pursuit of the retiring foe. A storm arose. For twelve hours 
the rain fell in torrents. But the Prussian army was impelled 
onward, through the mud, and through the swollen streams, in- 
spired by the almost supernatural energy which glowed in. the 
bosom of its king. It seemed as if no hardships, sufferings, or 
perils could induce those iron men, who by discipline had been 
converted into mere machines, to wander from the ranks or to 
falter on the way. As we have mentioned, there were through- 
out all this region two religious parties, the Catholics' and the 
Protestants. They were strongly antagonistic to each other. 
Under the Austrian sway, the Catholics, having the support of 
the government, had enjoyed unquestioned supremacy. They 
had often very cruelly persecuted the Protestants, robbing them 
of their churches, and, in their zeal to defend what 4hey deemed 
the orthodox faith, depriving them of their children, and placing 
them under the care of the Catholic priests to be educated. 

" While the battle of Hohenfriedberg was raging," writes an 
eye-witness, " as far as the cannon was heard all around, the 



EEEDEEICK THE GEE AT. 353 

Protestants fell on their knees praying for victory for the Prus- 
sians." Indescribable was the exultation when the bugle peals 
of the Prussian trunrpeters announced to them a Protestant vic- 
tory. When Frederick approached, in his pursuit, the important 
town of Landshut, the following incident occurred, as described 
by the pen of his Prussian majesty : 

" Upon reaching the neighborhood of Landshut, the king was 
surrounded by a troop of two thousand Protestant peasants. 
They begged permission of him to massacre the Catholics of 
those parts, and clear the country of them altogether. This an- 
imosity arose from the persecutions which the Protestants had 
suffered during the Austrian domination. 

" The king was very far from granting so barbarous a permis- 
sion. He told them they ought rather to conform to the pre- 
cepts of Scripture, and to i bless those that curse them, and pray 
for those that despitefully use them.' Such, the king assured 
them, was the way to gain the kingdom of heaven. The peas- 
ants, after a little reflection, declared that his majesty was right, 
and desisted from their cruel intention."* 

For several weeks the Austrians slowly and sullenly retired. 
Their retreat was conducted in two immense columns, by paral- 
lel roads at some distance from each other. Their wings of for- 
agers and skirmishers were widely extended, so that the hungry 
army swept with desolation a breadth of country reaching out 
many leagues. Though the Austrian army was traversing the 
friendly territory of Bohemia, still Prince Charles was anxious 
to leave behind him no resources for Frederick to glean. Fred- 
erick, with his army, pressed along, following the wide-spread 
trail of his foes. The Austrians, with great skill, selected every 
commanding position on which to erect their batteries, and hurl 
back a storm of shot and shell into the bosoms of their pursuers. 
'But Frederick allowed them no rest by clay or by night. His 
solid columns so unremittingly and so impetuously pressed with 
shot, bullets, bayonet, and sabre-blows upon the rear ranks of 
the foe that there was almost an incessant battle, continuing for 
several weeks, crimsoning a path thirty miles wide and more 
than a hundred miles in length with the blood of the wounded 
and the slain. 

* CEuvres de Frederic, t. ii., p. 218. 



354 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE RETREAT OF THE AUSTRIANS. 



The region through which this retreat and pursuit were con- 
ducted was much of the way along the southern slope of the 
Giant Mountains. It was a wild country of precipitous rocks, 
quagmires, and gloomy forests. At length Prince Charles, with 
his defeated and dispirited army, took refuge at Koriigsgraft, a 
compact town between the Elbe and the Adler, protected by 
one stream on the west, and by the other on the south. Here, 
in an impregnable position, he intrenched his troops. Frederick, 
finding them unassailable, encamped his forces in a position al- 
most equally impregnable, a few miles west of the Elbe, in the 
vicinity of a little village called Chlum. Thus the two hostile 
armies, almost within sound of each other's bugles, defiantly 
stood in battle array, each watching an opportunity to strike a 
blow. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 355 

"War is cruelty," said General Sherman; "and you can not 
refine it." " No man of refined Christian sensibilities," said the 
Duke of Wellington, "should undertake the profession of a sol- 
dier." The exigencies of war often require things to be done 
from which humanity revolts. " War," said Napoleon I., " is the 
science of barbarians." One of the principal objects of Freder- 
ick in this pursuit of the Austrians through Bohemia was to lay 
waste the country so utterly, destroying its roads and consuming 
its provisions, that no Austrian army could again pass through 
it for the invasion of Silesia. Who can imagine the amount of 
woe thus inflicted upon the innocent peasants of Bohemia? 
Both armies were reduced to the necessity of living mainly upon 
the resources of the country in which they were encamped. 
Their foraging parties were scattered in all directions. There 
were frequent attacks of outposts and bloody skirmishes, in 
which many were slain and many were crippled for Kfe. Each 
death, each wound, sent tears, and often life-long woe, to some 
humble cottage. 

There are sometimes great and glorious objects to be attained 
— objects which elevate and ennoble a nation or a race — which 
warrant the expenditure of almost any amount of temporary suf- 
fering. It is not the duty of the millions to suffer the proud 
and haughty hundreds to consign them to ignorance and tram- 
ple them in the dust. In this wicked world, where kings and 
nobles have ever been so ready to doom the masses of the peo- 
ple to ignorance, servitude, and want, human rights have almost 
never made any advances but through the energies of the sword. 
Many illustrious generals, who, with saddened hearts, have led 
their armies over fields of blood, have been among the most de- 
voted friends and ornaments of humanity. Their names have 
been enshrined in the affections of grateful millions. 

But this war, into which the Prussian king had so recklessly 
plunged all Europe, was purely a war of personal ambition. 
Even Frederick did not pretend that it involved any question 
of human rights. Unblushingly he avowed that he drew his 
sword and led his hundred thousand peasant-boys upon their 
dreadful career of carnage and misery simply that he might en- 
large his territories, gain renown as a conqueror, and make the 
world talk about him. It must be a fearful thing to go to the 



356 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

judgment seat of Christ with such a crime weighing upon the 
soul. 

War has its jokes and merriment, but the comedies of war 
are often more dreadful than the tragedies of peace. Frederick, 
in his works, records the following incident, which he narrates 
as " slight pleasantry, to relieve the reader's mind :"* 

The Prussians had a detached post at Smirzitz. The little 
garrison there was much harassed by lurking bands of Austrians, 
who shot their sentries, cut off their supplies, and rendered it al- 
most certain death to any one who ventured to emerge from the 
ramparts. Some inventive genius among the Prussians com 
structed a straw man, very like life, representing a sentinel with 
his shouldered musket. By a series of ropes this effigy was 
made to move from right to left, as if walking his beat. A well- 
armed band of Prussians then hid in a thicket near by. 

Ere long a company of Austrian scouts approached. From a 
distance they eyed the sentinel, moving to and fro as he guarded 
his post. A sharp-shooter crept near, and, taking deliberate aim 
at his supposed victim, fired. A twitch upon the rope caused 
the image to fall flat. The whole band of Austrians, with a 
shout, rushed to the spot. The Prussians, from their ambuscade, 
opened upon them a deadly fire of bullets. Then, as the ground 
was covered with the mutilated and the dead, the Prussians, 
causing the welkin to ring with their peals of laughter, rushed 
with fixed bayonets upon their entrapped foes. Not a single 
Austrian had escaped being struck by a bullet. Those who 
were not killed outright were wounded, and were taken captive. 
This is one of the " slight pleasantries" of war. 

Frederick's army was now in a state of great destitution. The 
region around was so stripped of its resources that it could af- 
ford his foragers no more supplies. It was difficult for him to 
fill his baggage- trains even in Silesia, so much had that country 
been devastated by war ; and wherever any of his supply wag- 
ons appeared, swarms of Austrian dragoons hovered around, at- 
tacking and destroying them. To add to the embarrassments of 
the Prussian king, his purse was empty. His subjects could en- 
dure no heavier taxation. All the plate which Frederick Wil- 
liam had accumulated had been converted into coin and expend- 

* CEuvres de Frederic, t. iii., p. 123. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



357 




A SLIGHT PLEASANTRY. 



ed. Even the massive silver balustrades, which were reserved 
until a time of need, were melted and gone. He knew not where 
to look for a loan. .AIT the nations were involved in ruinous 
war. All wished to borrow. None but England had money to 
lend ; and England was fighting Frederick, and furnishing sup- 
plies for his foes." 

The expenses of the war were enormous. Frederick made a 
careful estimate, and found that he required at least three hun- 
dred and seventy-five thousand dollars a month. He could not 
carry on another campaign with less than four million five hun- 
dred thousand dollars. He had been expecting that Louis XV., 
who in person was in command of the French army on the Rhine, 
would send him a re-enforcement of sixty thousand troops to en- 
able him to crush the forces of Prince Charles. But week after 



358 FKEDERICK THE GREAT. 

week passed, and no re-enforcements came. The French, intent 
upon their conquest, were as selfishly pursuing their own inter- 
ests on the Rhine as Frederick was pursuing his in Silesia. 

The great victory of Fontenoy, gained by the French on the 
Rhine, caused boundless exultation throughout France. " The 
French," writes Carlyle, " made immense explosions of rejoicing 
over this victory ; Voltaire celebrating it in prose and verse to 
an amazing degree ; the whole nation blazing out over it into 
illuminations, arcs of triumph, and universal three times three ; 
in short, I think nearly the heartiest national huzza, loud, deep, 
long-drawn, that the nation ever gave in like case." 

But this victory on the Rhine was of no avail to Frederick in 
Bohemia. It did not diminish the hosts which Prince Charles 
was gathering against him. It did not add a soldier to his di- 
minished columns, or supply his exhausted magazines, or replen- 
ish his empty treasury. Louis XV. was so delighted with the 
victory that he supposed Frederick would be in sympathy with 
him. He immediately dispatched a courier to the Prussian king 
with the glad tidings. But Frederick, disappointed, embarrassed, 
chagrined, instead of being gratified, was irritated b}^ the news. 
He sent back the scornful reply " that a victory upon the Sca- 
niander,* or in the heart of China, would have been just as im- 
portant to him." 

Louis XV. felt insulted by this message, and responded in a 
similar strain of irritation. Thus the two monarchs were alien- 
ated from each other. Indeed, Frederick had almost as much 
cause to be dissatisfied with the French as they had to.be dis- 
satisfied with him. Each of the monarchs was ready to sacrifice 
the other if any thing was to be gained thereby. 

Frederick was now in such deep pecuniary embarrassment 
that he was compelled to humble himself so far as to apply to 
the King of France for money. " If your majesty," he wrote, 
" can not furnish me with any re-enforcements,' you must, at least, 
send me funds to raise additional troops. The smallest possible 
sum which will enable me to maintain my position here is three 
million dollars." 

Louis XV. wrote a very unsatisfactory letter in reply. He 
stated, with many apologies, that his funds were terribly low, 

* Scamander, a small stream in Asia Minor, celebrated in the songs of Homer. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 359 

that he was exceedingly embarrassed, that it was impossible to 
send the sum required, but that he would try to furnish him 
with a hundred thousand dollars a month. 

Frederick was indignant. Scornfully he rejected the proposal, 
saying, " Such a paltry sum might with propriety, perhaps, be 
offered to a petty duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, but it is not suita- 
ble to make such a proposition to the King of Prussia." 

Poor Valori, the French embassador, was placed in a very em- 
barrassing situation. The anger of the Prussian king vented it- 
self upon him. He was in complete disgrace. It was his duty 
daily to wait upon Frederick. But the king would seldom 
speak to him, or even look upon him ; and if he did favor him 
with a glance, it was with an expression of scorn. 

Frederick was rapidly awaking to the consciousness that Ma- 
ria Theresa, whom he had despised as a woman, and a young 
wife and mother, and whose territory he thought he could dis- 
member with impunity, was fully his equal, not only in ability 
to raise and direct armies, but also in diplomatic intrigue. 
About the middle of August he perceived from his camp in 
Chlum that Prince Charles was receiving large re-enforcements 
from the south. At the same time, he saw that corps after corps, 
principally of Saxon troops, were defiling away by circuitous 
roads to the north. It was soon evident that the heroic Maria 
Theresa was preparing to send an army into the very heart of 
Prussia to attack its capital. This was, indeed, changing the as- 
pect of the war. 

Berlin was almost defenseless. All Saxony was rising in 
arms behind Frederick. The invader of Silesia was in danger 
of having his own realms invaded and his own capital sacked. 
Frederick was thoroughly roused. But he never allowed him- 
self to appear agitated or anxious. He ordered Leopold, the Old 
Dessauer, to march immediately, with all the troops he could 
rally, to the frontiers of Saxony. He even found it necessary to 
detach to the aid of Leopold some corps from his own enfeebled 
forces, now menaced by an Austrian army twice as large as he 
could oppose to them. 

While affairs were in this posture, the English, eager to crush 
their hereditary rivals, the French, were very anxious to detach 
the Prussians from the French alliance. The only way to do 



360 FREDERICK THE GREAT, 

this was to induce Maria Theresa to offer terms of peace such as 
Frederick would accept. They sent Sir Thomas Robinson to 
Schonbrunn to endeavor to accomplish this purpose. He had 
an interview with her Hungarian majesty on the 2d of August, 
1745. The queen was very dignified and reticent. Silently she 
listened to the proposals of Sir Thomas. She then said, with 
firmness which left no room for further argument, 

" It would be easier for me to make peace with France than 
with Prussia. What good could possibly result now from peace 
with Prussia \ I must have Silesia again. Without Silesia the 
imperial sceptre would be but a bauble. Would you have us 
sway that sceptre under the guardianship of Prussia ? Prince 
Charles is now in a condition to fight the Prussians again. Un- 
til after another battle, do not speak to me of peace. You say 
that if we make peace with Prussia, Frederick will give his vote 
for the grand-duke as emperor. The grand-duke is not so am- 
bitious of an empty honor as to engage in it under the tutelage 
of Prussia. Consider, moreover, is the imperial dignity consist- 
ent with the loss of Silesia ? One more battle I demand. Were 
I compelled to agree with Frederick to-morrow, I would try him 
in a battle to-night."* 

On the 13th of September the German Diet met at Frankfort 
for the election of emperor. Frederick had determined that the 
Grand-duke Francis, husband of the Hungarian queen, should 
not be elected. Maria Theresa had outgeneraled him. Francis 
was elected. He had seven out of nine of the electoral votes. 
Frederick, thus baffled, could only protest. Maria Theresa was 
conscious of her triumph. Though the imperial crown was 
placed upon the brow of Francis, all Europe knew that the scep- 
tre was in the hands of his far more able and efficient wife. 
Maria Theresa was at Frankfort at the time of the election. She 
could not conceal her exultation. She seemed very willing to 
have it understood that her amiable husband was but the in- 
strument of her will. She took the title of empress queen, and 
assumed a very lofty carriage toward the princes of the empire. 
Alluding to Frederick, she said, in a very imperial tone, for she 
deemed him now virtually vanquished, 

" His Prussian majesty has unquestionably talent, but what 

* Robinson's Dispatch, August 4, 1745. 



EllEDERICK THE GREAT. 361 

a character ! He is frivolous in the extreme, and sadly a heretic 
in his religious views. He is a dishonorable man, and what a 
neighbor he has been ! As to Silesia, I would as soon part with 
my last garment as part with it." 

Her majesty now wrote to Prince Charles, urging him to en- 
gage immediately in a fight with Frederick She sent two of 
the highest dignitaries of the court to Koniggratz to press for- 
ward immediate action. There was an eminence near by, which 
the Austrian officers daily ascended, and from which they could 
look directly into the Prussian camp and observe all that was 
transpiring there. 

The position of Frederick became daily more embarrassing. 
His forces were continually decreasing. Re-enforcements were 
swelling the ranks of the Austrians. Elated in becoming the 
Imperial Army, they grew more bold and annoying, assailing 
the Prussian outposts and cutting off their supplies. 

On the 18th of September, when the rejoicing Austrians at 
Koniggratz were firing salutes, drinking wine, and feasting in 
honor of the election of the grand-duke to the imperial dignity, 
Frederick, availing himself of the carousal in the camp of his foes, 
crossed the Elbe with his whole army, a few miles above Ko- 
niggratz, and commenced his retreat to Silesia. His path led 
through a wild, sparsely inhabited country, of precipitous rocks, 
hills, mountain torrents, and quagmires. One vast forest spread 
along the banks of the Elbe, covering with its gloom an extent 
of sixty square miles. A few miserable hamlets were scattered 
over this desolate region. The poor inhabitants lived mainly 
upon the rye which they raised and the swine which ranged the 
forest. 

Along the eastern edge of this vast wilderness the army of 
Frederick marched for two days. But Hungarian Panclours in 
swarms, savage men on their fleet and shaggy horses, were con- 
tinually emerging from the paths of the forest, with gleaming 
sabres and shrill war-cries, assailing the flank of the Prussian 
line wherever there was the slightest exposure. In the vicinity 
of the little village of Sohr the king encamped for two days. 
The halt seemed necessary to refresh his horses, and to send out 
foraging parties to replenish his stores. But the light horsemen 
of the foe were so thick around him, so vigilant, and so bold, 



362 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

that no baggage train could enter his camp unless protected by- 
eight thousand foot and three thousand horse. 

Just at the break of day of Thursday morning, September 30, 
as the king was in his tent, busy with his generals, examining 
maps in preparation for the immediate resumption of the march, 
an orderly came, in breathless haste, to inform the king that the 
Austrians were advancing rapidly upon him, and in great force. 
While he was yet speaking another messenger arrived, confirm- 
ing the tidings, and stating that, apparently, the whole Austrian 
army, in battle array, was coming down upon him. 

It was a cold, dreary autumnal morning. The Austrian army, 
according to Frederick's statement, amounted to sixty thousand 
men.* But it was widely dispersed. Many of the cavalry were 
scouring the country in all directions, in foraging parties and as 
skirmishers. Large bodies had been sent by circuitous roads to 
occupy every avenue of retreat. The consolidated army, under 
Prince Charles, now advancing to the attack, amounted to thirty- 
six thousand men. Frederick had but twenty-six thousand.f 

In this hour of peril the genius of the Prussian monarch was 
remarkably developed. He manifested not the slightest agita- 
tion or alarm. His plan was immediately formed. Indeed, 
there was no time for a moment's delay. The Austrians had 
moved rapidly and silently, concealing their approach by a thick 
veil of hussars. They were already in solid columns, confident 
of victory, advancing upon the Prussian camp. Frederick was 
compelled to form his line of battle under fire of the Austrian 
batteries. The discipline of the Prussians was such that this 
was done with a recklessness of danger, rapidity, and mechanical 
precision which seemed almost miraculous, and which elicited 
the admiration of every one who beheld it. 

The reader would not be interested in the details of the bat- 
tle which ensued. It lasted for iive hours. It was, as is every 
battle, an indescribable scene of tumult, uproar, and confusion. 
The result was long doubtful. Defeat to Frederick would have 
been utter ruin. It is wonderful how one determined man can 
infuse his spirit into a whole host. Every Prussian seemed to 

* Histoire de mon Temps. 

t In this, as in most other similar cases, there is considerable diversity of statement as to the 
precise number of troops engaged on either side. But there is no question that the Austrians 
were in numbers far superior to the Prussians. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 363 

have the same desperate valor, and determination to conquer or 
to die, which animated his king. 

The sun had just risen above the horizon when the conflict 
commenced. It reached its meridian. Still the storm of battle 
swept the plains and reverberated over the hills. Heights had 
been taken and retaken ; charges had been made and repelled ; 
the surges of victory had rolled to and fro ; over many leagues 
the thunderbolts of battle were thickly flying; bugle peals, cries 
of onset, shrieks of the wounded crushed beneath artillery wheels, 
blended with the rattle of musketry and the roar of artillery ; 
riderless horses were flying in all directions ; the extended plain 
was covered with the wreck and ruin of battle, and every moment 
was multiplying the victims of war's horrid butchery. 

At length the Austrians were routed — utterly routed — broken, 
dispersed, and driven in wild confusion into the glooms of the 
forest. The victory of Frederick was complete. As a warrior, 
he was winning the title he so greatly coveted, of Frederick the 
Great. 

It was a glorious victory. What was the price ? Five thou- 
sand six hundred Prussian young men lay in their blood upon 
the field, dead or wounded. Six thousand seven hundred young 
men from Austrian homes lay by their side, silent in death, or 
groaning in anguish, lacerated by the missiles of war.* 

Frederick was elated with his victory. He had taken three 
thousand three hundred prisoners, twenty-one cannon, and twen- 
ty-two standards. He had added to the renown of his name, 
and strengthened his hold upon Silesia. 

Prince Charles, as he was leading the main body of his army 
to the assault, sent a squadron of his fleet-footed cavalry to burn 
the Prussian camp, and to assail the foe in their rear. But the 
troops found the camp so rich in treasure that they could not 
resist the temptation of stopping to plunder. Thus they did 
not make the attack which had been ordered, and which would 
probably have resulted in the destruction of the Prussian army. 
It is said that when Frederick, in the heat of the battle, was in- 
formed that the Pandours were sacking his camp, he coolly re- 
plied, " So much the better ; they will not then interrupt us."f 

* Miiller, Tableaux des guerres de Frederic le Grand. 
f Memoires de Frederic, Baron de Trench. 



364 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 



THE PEACE OF DRESDEN. 



Sufferings of the Peasantry. — Renown and Peril of Frederick. — New Plan of Maria Theresa. — 
Despondency of Frederick. — Surprise and Rout of the Austrians. — The " Old Dessauer" en- 
ters Saxony. — Battle of Kesseldorf. — Singular Prayer of the Old Dessauer. — Signal Victoiy 
of the Prussians. — Elation of Frederick. — The Peace of Dresden. — Death of M. Duhan. 

After the retreat of the Austrians, Frederick returned to his 
camp to find it plundered and burned. The semi-barbarian as- 
sailants had also consigned to the flames eight or ten sick Prus- 
sians whom they found there, and several women whom they 
caught. " We found the limbs of these poor men and women 
lying about," writes General Lehwald. 

The camp was so utterly destroyed that Frederick could not 
even obtain pen and ink. He was obliged to write with a pen- 
cil. Not a loaf of bread nor a cup of wine was left for the ex- 
hausted king. The hungry soldiers, after a conflict of five hours, 
having had neither breakfast nor dinner, found no refreshments 
awaiting them ; yet, without a murmur, they smoked their pipes, 
drank some spring water, and rejoiced in their great victory. 

" Never mind," said the king ; " it is a cheap price to pay for 
escaping an attack from Pandours in the rear, while such a bat- 
tle was raging in front." 

Frederick remained at Sohr five days. The country was 
scoured in all directions to obtain food for his army. It was 
necessary that the troops should be fed, even if the poor inhab- 
itants starved miserably. No tongue can tell the sufferings 
which consequently fell upon the peasantry for leagues around. 
Prince Charles, with his shattered army, fell back to Koniggratz, 
remorselessly plundering the people by the way. Frederick, or- 
dering his army to retire to Silesia, returned to Berlin. 

The victory of Sohr filled Europe with the renown of Fred- 
erick. Still his peril was great, and the difficulties before him 
apparently insurmountable. His treasury was exhausted. His 
only ally, France, would furnish him with no money, had no con- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 365 

fidence in him, and was in heart exasperated against him. Not 
a single court in Europe expressed any friendship for Frederick. 
On the contrary, nearly all would have rejoiced at his downfall. 
There seemed to be no end to the campaigns which were open- 
ing before him. Yet Frederick knew not where to obtain the 
money to meet the expense even of a single campaign. 

Under these circumstances, Frederick made indirect but vig- 
orous exertions to bring the war to a close. " I am ready and 
desirous now," he said, " as at all times, for peace. I will imme- 
diately sheathe the sword if I can be guaranteed the possession 
of Silesia." 

" I, too, am anxious for peace," Maria Theresa replied, " and 
will joyfully withdraw my armies if Silesia, of which I have been 
robbed, is restored to me." 

Thus his Prussian majesty and the Queen of Hungary met 
each other like two icebergs in a stormy sea. The allies were 
exasperated, not conquered, by the defeat of Sohr. Maria The- 
resa, notwithstanding the severity of winter's cold, resolved im- 
mediately to send three armies to invade Prussia, and storm Ber- 
lin itself. She hoped to keep the design profoundly secret, so 
that Frederick might be taken at unawares. The Swedish en- 
voy at Dresden spied out the plan, and gave the king warning. 
Marshal Griine was to advance from the Rhine, and enter Bran- 
denburg from the west. Prince Charles, skirting Western Sile- 
sia, was to march upon Brandenburg from the south. General 
Rutowski was to spring upon the Old Dessauer, who was en- 
camped upon the frontiers of Saxony, overwhelm and crush his 
army with superior numbers, and then, forming a junction with 
Marshal Briine, with their united force rush upon Berlin. 

Frederick was astounded, alarmed, for a moment overwhelmed, 
as these tidings were clearly made known to him. He had 
brought all this upon himself. "And yet," the wretched man 
exclaimed, " what a life I lead ! This is not living ; this is being 
killed a thousand times a day !" 

This despondency lasted, however, but a moment. Concealing 
his emotions, he smoothed his furrowed brow, dressed his face in 
smiles, and wrote doggerel verses and jocose letters as if he were 
merely a fashionable man of pleasure. At the same time he ral- 
lied all his marvelous energies, and prepared to meet the exi- 



366 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

gency with sagacity and intrepidity rarely surpassed. Orders 
were immediately dispatched to the Old Dessauer to marshal an 
army to oppose Grime and Rutowski, while the king hastened 
to Silesia to attack Prince Charles. Leopold, though he had 
nearly numbered his threescore years and ten, according to Fred- 
erick, was very glad to fight once again before he died. The 
veteran general ventured to make some suggestions in reference 
to the orders he had received. The king sternly replied, 

"When your highness gets armies of your own, you will order 
them according to your mind. At present, it must be according 
to mine." 

Frederick had an army of thirty-five thousand men at Lieg- 
nitz, in Silesia, under the command of young Leopold. Every 
man was a thoroughly trained soldier. The army was in the 
best possible condition. At seven o'clock in the morning of No- 
vember 15, 1745, the king left Berlin at full speed for Liegnitz. 
He arrived there the next day, and at once took the command. 
" There is great velocity in this young king," writes Carlyle ; " a 
panther-like suddenness of spring in him ; cunning too, as any 
felis of them; and with claws as the felis leo on occasion." 

Prince Charles was en route for Berlin — a winter's march of a 
hundred and fifty miles. He was not aware that the King of 
Prussia was near him, or that the king was conscious of his bold 
design. On Saturday night, November 20, the army of Prince 
Charles, forty thousand strong, on its line of march, suspecting 
no foe near, was encamped in villages, extending for twenty miles 
along the banks of the Queiss, one of the tributaries of the Oder. 
Four marches would bring them into Brandenburg. It was the 
design of Frederick to fall with his whole force upon the centre 
of this line, cut it in two, and then to annihilate the extremities. 
Early in the morning of Sunday, the 21st, Frederick put his 
troops in motion. He marched rapidly all that day, and Mon- 
day, and Tuesday. In the twilight of Tuesday evening, a dense 
fog enveloping the landscape, Frederick, with his concentrated 
force, fell impetuously upon a division of the Austrian army en- 
camped in the village of Hennersdorf. 

The assault was as sudden and resistless as the sweep of the 
avalanche. The Austrian division was annihilated. Scarcely a 
man escaped. This achievement was deemed a very brilliant 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 367 

passage of war. It cut the Austrian army in twain and secured 
its ruin. 

The next morning the Prussian troops, led by their indomita- 
ble king, were early on the march, groping through the thick 
mist to find more of the foe. But the blow already given was 
decisive. The Austrian army was shattered, demoralized, ruined. 
The king could find nothing but broken tumbrils, abandoned 
wagons, and the debris of an utterly routed army. Prince 
Charles, bewildered by the disaster, had wheeled his columns 
around, and fled through the passes of the mountains back to 
Bohemia. Five thousand of his troops he left behind in killed 
or prisoners. 

Frederick was not unduly elated with his victory. He was 
still terribly harassed for money. There were campaigns open- 
ing before him, in an unending series, requiring enormous expend- 
iture. Even many such victories as he had just gained would 
only conduct him to irretrievable ruin, unless he could succeed 
in conquering a peace. In these dark hours the will of this ex- 
traordinary man remained inflexible. He would not listen to 
any propositions for peace which did not guarantee to him Sile- 
sia. Maria Theresa would listen to no terms which did not re- 
store to her the lost province. 

Frederick, in this great emergence, condescended again to write 
imploringly to France for pecuniary aid. He received a sarcastic 
reply, which exasperated him, and which was couched in such 
polite terms that he could not openly resent it. Marshal Griine, 
who was advancing rapidly from the Rhine to Berlin, hearing 
of the defeat of his confederates at Hennersdorf, and of the re- 
treat of Prince Charles, wheeled his columns south for Saxony. 
Here he effected a junction with General Rutowski, near Dres- 
den. Their combined troops intrenched themselves, and stood 
on the defensive. 

On the 29th of December, the Old Dessauer, with thirty-five 
thousand men, crossed the frontiers and entered Saxony. He 
marched rapidly upon Leipsie, and seized the town, from which 
a division of Rutowski's army precipitately fled. Leopold found 
here quite a supply of commissary and ordnance stores. He also 
replenished his empty army-chest by levying a contribution of 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars upon the inhabitants. 



368 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Then, by a rapid march northeast to Torgo, on the Elbe, he cap- 
tured another imperial magazine. Turning south, he pressed his 
troops along up the river to Myssen, which was within two days' 
easy march of Dresden. Here there was a bridge across the 
Oder. Frederick was pushing .his troops, by forced marches, 
from Hennersdorf, to effect a junction with Leopold at Myssen. 
Unitedly they were to fall upon Grime and Rutowski at Dres- 
den. In the mean time, also, Prince Charles, a despondent man, 
crushed by domestic woe and humiliating defeats, was moving, 
by not very energetic steps, to re-enforce the allied troops at 
Dresden. 

It was two o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, December 12, 
when the banners of the Old Dessauer appeared before Myssen. 
The Saxon commander there broke down the bridge, and in the 
darkness of the night stole away with his garrison to Dresden. 
Leopold vigorously but cautiously pursued. As the allied army 
was near, and in greater force than Leopold's command, it was 
necessary for him to move with much discretion. His march 
was along the west bank of the river. The ground was frozen 
and white with snow. 

On Wednesday morning, December 15, the advance-guard of 
the Prussians saw before them the allied army, thirty-five thou- 
sand strong, occupying a very formidable position. Marshal 
Griine and General Rutowski had advanced a few miles north 
from Dresden to meet the Prussians. Their troops were drawn 
up in battle array, extending from the River Elbe on the east, 
to the village of Kesselsdorf on the west. A small stream, with 
a craggy or broken gully or dell, extended along their whole 
front. The southern ridge, facing the advancing Prussians, bris- 
tled with artillery. Some of the pieces were of heavy calibre. 
Leopold had only light field-pieces. 

In the cold of the winter morning the Old Dessauer carefully 
reconnoitred the position of his foes. Their -batteries seemed 
innumerable, protected by earth-works, and frowning along a cliff 
which could only be reached by plunging into a gully and wad- 
ing through a half-frozen bog. There was, however, no alterna- 
tive but to advance or retreat. He decided to advance. 

Forming his army in two parallel lines, nearly five miles long, 
facing the foe, he prepared to open the battle along the whole 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 369 

extent of the field. While thus engrossing the attention of the 
enemy, his main attempt was to be directed against the village 
of Kesselsdorf, which his practiced eye saw to be the key of the 
position. It was two o'clock in the afternoon ere all his arrange- 
ments were completed. The Old Dessauer was a devout man — 
in his peculiar style a religious man, a man of prayer. He never 
went into battle without imploring God's aid. On this occasion, 
all things being arranged, he reverently uncovered his head, and 
in presence of the troops offered, it is said, the following prayer : 

" O my God, help me yet this once. Let me not be disgraced 
in my old days. But if Thou wilt not help me, don't help those 
scoundrels, but leave us to try it out ourselves." 

Having uttered this prayer, he waved his hat to his troops, 
and shouted, " On, in God's name !" 

" The Prussians," writes Carlyle, " tramp on with the usual 
grim-browed resolution, foot in front, horse in rear. But they 
have a terrible problem at that Kesselsdorf, with its retrenched 
batteries and numerous grenadiers fighting under cover. The 
very ground is sore against them; up-hill, and the trampled snow 
wearing into a slide, so that you sprawl and stagger sadly. Thir- 
ty-one big guns, and near nine thousand small, pouring out mere 
death on you from that knoll-head. The Prussians stagger ; can 
not stand ; bend to rightward to get out of shot range ; can not 
manage it this bout. Bally, re-enforced ; try it again. Again 
with a will; but again there is not a way. The Prussians are 
again repulsed ; fall back down this slippery course in more dis- 
order than the first time. Had the Saxons stood still, steadily 
handling arms, how, on such terms, could the Prussians have ever 
managed it ?"* 

At the second repulse, the Saxon grenadiers, greatly elated, 
gave a shout of " victory," and rushed from their works to pur- 
sue the retreating Prussians. This was their ruin. 

" Old Leopold, quick as thought, noticing the thing, hurls cav- 
alry on these victorious, down-plunging grenadiers ; slashes them 
asunder into mere recoiling whirlpools of ruin, so that few of 
them got back unwounded ; and the Prussians, storming in along 
with them, aided by eVer new Prussians, the place was, at length 
carried."f 

* Carlyle, vol. iv., p. 171. t Id. ibid. 

Aa 



370 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

And now the Prussians from the centre press the foe with new 
vigor. Leopold, at the head of his victorious division, charged 
the allied troops in flank, pouring in upon them his resistless 
horsemen. Whole regiments were made prisoners. Ere night- 
fall of the short December day, the whole allied army, broken 
and disordered, was on the retreat back to Dresden. The night 
alone protected them from utter ruin. They had lost six thou- 
sand prisoners, and three thousand in killed and wounded.* 

Prince Charles had arrived in Dresden the night before. He 
heard the roar of the cannonade all the day, but, for some un- 
explained reason, did not advance to the support of his friends. 
The very unsatisfactory excuse offered was, that his troops were 
exhausted by their long march ; and that, having been recently 
twice beaten by the Prussians, his army would be utterly de- 
moralized if led to another defeat. 

On the evening of Tuesday, the 14th, Frederick, with his ad- 
vanced guard, reached Myssen. All the next day, Wednesday, 
he was hurrying up his troops from the rear. In the afternoon 
he heard the deep booming of the cannon far up the Elbe. In 
the evening the sky was ablaze with the glare of the watch-fires 
of Leopold's victorious troops. The next morning Frederick 
pressed forward with all haste to join Leopold. Couriers on the 
way informed him of the great victory. At W'ilsdruf, a few 
miles from the field of battle, he met Leopold, who had advanced 
in person to meet his king. Frederick dismounted, uncovered 
his head, and threw his arms around the Old Dessauer in a 
grateful embrace. 

Together the king and his sturdy general returned to Kessels- 
dorf, and rode over the field of battle, which was still strewn 
with the ghastly wrecks of war. Large numbers of tne citizens 
of Dresden were on the field searching for their lost ones among 
the wounded or the dead. The Queen of Poland and her chil- 
dren remained in the city. Frederick treated them with mark- 
ed politeness, and appointed them guards of honor. The King 

* Voltaire, speaking of this action, says : "It was the famous old Prince of Anhalt who gain- 
ed this decisive victory. He had been a warrior fifty years, and was the first who had entered 
into the lines of the French army at Turin in 1707. For conducting the infantry he was es- 
teemed the most experienced officer in Europe. This great battle was the last that filled up the 
measure of his military glory — the only glory which he had enjoyed, for fighting was his only 
province." — Age of Louis XV., chap. xvii. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



371 





-— 


^= = ~ z ^ 




FREDERICK AND THE OLD DESSAUER. 



of Poland, who, it will be remembered, was also Elector of Sax- 
ony, applied for peace. Frederick replied: 

" Guarantee me the possession of Silesia, and pay me seven 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the expenses of this cam- 
paign, and I will withdraw my army." 

M. D'Arget, private secretary of the French minister Valori, 
"gives an interesting account of an interview he held with Fred- 
erick at this time. M. D'Arget was quite a favorite of the king, 
who conversed with him with unusual frankness. 

" These kind condescensions of his majesty," writes M. D'Ar- 
get, " emboldened me to represent to him the brilliant position 
he now held, and how noble it would be, after being the hero of 
Germany, to become the pacificator of Europe." 

" I grant it, my dear D'Arget," said the king, " but it is too 



372 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

dangerous a part to play. A reverse brings me to the edge of 
ruin. I know too well the mood of mind I was in the last time 
I left Berlin ever to expose myself to it again. If luck had been 
against me there, I saw myself a monarch without a throne. A 
bad game that. In fine, I wish to be at peace." 

" I represented to him," continues M. D'Arget, " that the house 
of Austria would never, with a tranquil eye, see his house in 
possession of Silesia." 

" Those that come after me," said the king, " will do as they 
like. The future is beyond man's reach. I have acquired ; it 
is theirs to preserve. I am not in alarm about the Austrians. 
They dread my armies — the luck that I have. I am sure of their 
sitting quiet for the dozen years or so which may remain to me 
of life. There is more for me in the true greatness of laboring 
for the happiness of my subjects than in the repose of Europe. 
I have put Saxony out of a condition to hurt me. She now 
owes me twelve million five hundred thousand dollars. By the 
defensive alliance which I form with her, I provide myself a help 
against Austria. I would not, henceforth, attack a cat, except to 
defend myself. Glory and my interests were the occasion of my 
first campaigns. The late emperor's situation, and my zeal for 
France, gave rise to the second. Always since, I have been fight- 
ing for my own hearths — for my very existence. I know the 
state I have got into. If I now saw Prince Charles at the gates 
of Paris, I would not stir." 

" And would you regard with the same indifference," M. D'Ar- 
get rejoined, " seeing us at the gates of Vienna?" 

" Yes" the king replied. " I swear it to you, D'Arget. In a 
word, I want to have some good of my life. What are we, poor 
human atoms, to get up projects that cost so much blood !" 

On the 25th of December, 1745, the peace of Dresden was 
signed. The demands of Frederick were acceded to. Augustus 
III. of Saxony, Maria Theresa of Austria, and George II. of En- 
gland became parties to the treaty. The next day Frederick at- 
tended sermon in the Protestant church. Monday morning his 
army, by slow marches, commenced its return to Brandenburg. 
Frederick, highly elated by the wonderful and almost miraculous 
change in his affairs, entered his carriage in company with his 
two brothers, and drove rapidly toward Berlin. The next day, 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 373 

at two o'clock in the afternoon, they reached the heath of Britz, 
five miles out from the city. Here the king found an immense 
concourse of the citizens, who had come on horseback and in 
carriages to escort him to his palace. Frederick sat in an open 
phaeton, accompanied by the Prince of Prussia and Prince Hen- 
ry. The throng was so great that the horses could only pro- 
ceed at the slowest pace. The air resounded with shouts of 
" Long live Frederick the Great. 1 ' The king was especially gra- 
cious, saying to those who eagerly crowded around his carriage 
wheels, 

" Do not press each other, my children. Take care of your- 
selves that the horses may not trample upon you, and that no 
accident may happen." 

It was remarked that the whole behavior of the king upon 
this occasion exhibited the utmost mildness, gentleness, and affa- 
bility. He seemed to be influenced by the most tender regard 
for the welfare of the people. 

Upon reaching the palace, he stood for a moment upon the 
grand stairway, and, surveying the thronging thousands, took 
off his hat and saluted them. This gave rise to a burst of ap- 
plause louder and heartier than Berlin had ever heard before. 
The king disappeared within the palace. Where the poor neg- 
lected queen w T as at this time we are not informed. There are 
no indications that he gave her even a thought. 

At six o'clock in the evening the whole city was illuminated. 
Frederick entered his carriage, and, attended by his two broth- 
ers, the Prince of Prussia and Prince Henry, rode out to take the 
circuit of the streets. But the king had received information 
that one of his former preceptors, M. Duhan, lay at the point of 
death. He ordered his carriage to be at once driven to the res- 
idence of the dying man. The house of M. Duhan was situated 
in a court, blazing with the glow of thousands of lamps. 

" It was an affecting sight," says M. Bielfeld, " to see a dying 
man in the midst of a brilliant illumination, surrounded by 
princes, and visited by a triumphant monarch, who, in the midst 
of the incessant clamor of exultation, sought only to alleviate 
the sick man's pangs, participating in his distress, and reflecting 
upon the vanity of all human grandeur." 

The king having taken a tender adieu of M. Duhan, who died 



374: 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



the next morning, traversed the brilliant streets of the rejoicing 
city, and returned to the palace about ten that evening. 
Frederick now entered upon a period of ten years of peace. 




FREDERICK AT THE DEATH-BED OF M. DUHAN. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



375 




SANS SOUCI. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

FREDERICK THE GREAT AT SA^S SOUCI. 

Days of Peace and Prosperity. — The Palace of Sans Souci. — Letter from Marshal Keith. — Do- 
mestic Habits of the King. — Frederick's Snuff-boxes. — Anecdotes. — Severe Discipline of the 
Army. — Testimony of Baron Trenck. — The Review. — Death of the "Divine Emilie." — The 
King's Revenge. — Anecdote of the Poor Schoolmaster. — The Berlin Carousal. — Appearance 
of his Majesty. — Honors conferred upon Voltaire. 

" Happy the people," says Montesquieu, " whose annals are 
blank in history books." The annals of the nations are mainly 
composed of wars, tumult, and woe. For ten years Prussia en- 
joyed peace. During this happy period, when the days and the 
years glided by in tranquillity, there is little left for the historian 
to record. Frederick engaged vigorously in repairing the ruins 
left by the war. The burned Silesian villages were rebuilt; 
debts were paid ; agriculture and commerce encouraged ; the 
laws revised and reformed. A decree was issued that all law- 
suits should be brought to a decision within a year after their 
beginning. 

The king, weary of the life of turmoil, constructed for himself 



376 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



a beautiful villa, which he named Sans Souci ("Free from Care"), 
which Carlyle characteristically translates " No bother." It was 
situated on a pleasant hill-top near Potsdam, in great retirement, 
yet commanding an enchanting view of land and water. 

On the first of May, 1747, Frederick took formal possession of 
this beautiful chateau. The occasion was celebrated by quite a 
magnificent dinner of two hundred covers. Here, for the next 
forty years, he spent most of his leisure time. He had three 
other palaces, far surpassing Sans Souci in splendor, which he 
occasionally visited on days of royal festivities. Berlin and 
Charlottenburg were about twenty miles distant. The New 
Palace, so called, at Potsdam, was but about a mile from Sans 




THE NEW PALACE AT POTSDAM. 



Souci. He had also his palace at Rheinsberg, some thirty miles 
north of Berlin, where he had spent many of his early days. 

It is said that one day, as Frederick was contemplating the 
royal burying-ground , not far from the spot which he had se- 
lected for his rural villa, he said to a companion by his side, in 
reference to his own burial, " Oui, alors je serais sans souci." 
Yes, then I shall he free from care. From that remark the villa 
took its name. Frederick adopted it, and inscribed it in golden 
letters on the lintel. He appropriated to his private use three 
apartments — an audience-room, a library, and a small alcove for 
a bedroom. In this alcove, scarcely larger than a closet, he slept, 
in soldier style, upon an iron bed, without curtains. An old 
slouched hat, softened by wear, served him for a night-cap. His 
library was a beautiful room, very richly furnished. There were 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 377 

terrible war-clouds still sweeping over various parts of Europe, 
but their lightning flashes and their thunder roar disturbed not 
the repose of Frederick in his elevated retreat. 

In the month of October, 1747, Field-marshal Keith visited his 
Prussian majesty at Sans Souci. In a letter to his brother he 
thus describes the results of his observations : 

" I have now the honor, and, what is still more, the pleasure 
of being with the king at Potsdam. I have the honor to dine 
and sup with him almost every day. He has more wit than I 
have wit to tell you ; speaks solidly and knowingly on all kinds 
of subjects; and I am much mistaken if, with the experience of 
four campaigns, he is not the best officer of his army. He has 
several persons with whom he lives with almost the familiarity 
of a friend, but he has no favorite. He shows a natural polite- 
ness for every body who is about him. For one who has been 
four days about his person, you will say, I pretend to know a 
great deal about his character. But what I tell you you may 
depend upon. With more time I shall know as much of him as 
he will let me know, and no one of his ministry knows any more." 

The king was a very busy man. In addition to carrying on 
quite an extensive literary correspondence, he was vigorously 
engaged in writing his memoirs. He was also with great ener- 
gy developing the wealth of his realms. In the exercise of ab- 
solute power, his government was entirely personal. He had no 
constitution to restrain him. Under his single control were con- 
centrated all legislative, judicial, and executive powers. There 
was no senate or legislative corps to co-operate in framing laws. 
His ministers were merely servants to do his bidding. The 
courts had no powers whatever but such as he intrusted to them. 
He could at any time reverse their decrees, and flog the judges 
with his cane, or hang them. 

- Frederick was a great snuff-taker. He always carried two 
large snuff-boxes in his pocket. Several others stood upon ta- 
bles around in his rooms, always ready for use. The cheapest 
of these boxes cost fifteen hundred dollars. He had some richly 
studded with gems, which cost seven thousand five hundred dol- 
lars. At his death one hundred and thirty snuff-boxes appeared 
in the inventory of his jewels. 

Many anecdotes are related illustrative of the kind feelings of 



378 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

the king toward the peasants. He was much interested in 
ameliorating their condition, and said to the Bishop of Varmia, 
a Believe me, if I knew every thing — if I could read every thing 
myself — all my subjects should be happy. But alas ! I am but 
a man." 

In the ranks all of the army were equally entitled to distinc- 
tion. Promotion was conferred upon merit, not upon the acci- 
dent of birth. This principle, which was entirely ignored in the 
other European despotisms, probably contributed to the success 
of Frederick's armies. A Hanoverian count wrote to him, solic- 
iting a high position in the army for his son, in favor of his ex- 
alted birth. Frederick dictated the following reply : 

" I am obliged to tell you that I have long forbid counts to be 
received, as such, into my army ; for when they have served one 
or two years they retire, and merely make their short military 
career a subject of vain boasting. If your son wishes to serve, 
the title of count can be of no use to him. But he will be pro- 
moted if he learn his profession well." 

The king then took the pen himself, and added with his own 
hand : 

" Young counts who have learned nothing are the most igno- 
rant people in all countries. In England the king's son begins 
by being a sailor on board a ship, in order to learn the manoeu- 
vres belonging to that service. If it should miraculously hap- 
pen that a count could be good for any thing, it must be by ban- 
ishing all thoughts about his titles and his birth, for these are 
only follies. Every thing depends upon personal merit. 

" Frederick." 

The severity of discipline in the Prussian army was dreadful. 
The slightest misdemeanor was punished mercilessly. The drill, 
exposure, and hardships in the camp made life to the soldier a 
scene of constant martyrdom. Desertion was almost impossible. 
The only avenue of escape was suicide. In the little garrison at 
Potsdam, in ten years, over three hundred, by self-inflicted death, 
escaped their miseries. Dr. Zimmerman states that it not unfre- 
quently happened that a soldier murdered a child, and then came 
and gave himself up to justice. They thought that if they com- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 379 

mitted suicide they would be subject to eternal punishment. 
But the murdered infant was sure to go to heaven, and the mur- 
derer would have time to repent and make his peace with God. 

Baron Trenck, in his memoir, gives an appalling account of 
these hardships in the body-guards to which he belonged. In 
time of peace there was scarcely an hour which he could com- 
mand. The morning drill commenced at four o'clock. The most 
complicated and perilous manoeuvres were performed. Frederick 
considered this the best school for cavalry in the world. They 
were compelled to leap trenches, which were continually widened 
till many fell in and broke their legs or arms. They were also 
compelled to leap hedges, and continue to charge at the highest 
possible speed for miles together. Almost daily some were 
either killed or wounded. At midday they took fresh horses, 
and repeated these toilsome and dangerous labors. Frequently 
they would be called from their beds two or three times in one 
night, to keep them on the alert. But eight minutes were al- 
lowed the guardsman to present himself on horseback, in his 
place, fully equipped. " In one year of peace," he says, " the 
body-guards lost more men and horses than they had in two bat-, 
ties during the war." 

In 1747 Marshal Saxe visited Potsdam. He witnessed a re- 
view of the guards. In the account of this review given by Al- 
garotti, he says, " The squadron of guards, which at one time, 
drawn up close, exhibited the appearance of a rock, at another 
resembled a cloud scattered along the plain. In the charge on 
full gallop one horse's head was not a foot beyond another. The 
line was so exactly straight that Euclid himself could not have 
found fault with it." 

In September, 1749, Madame Du Chatelet, the" divine Emilie" 
of Voltaire, suddenly died. The infidel philosopher seemed 
"much grieved for a time. Frederick, who never fancied Madame 
Du Chatelet, was the more eager, now that she was out of the 
way, that Voltaire should come to Sans Souci, and aid him in 
his literary labors. A trivial incident occurred at this time 
worthy of record, as illustrative of the character of the king. 
At the close of the year 1749 there had been a review of Aus- 
trian t-roops at Mahren. It was not a very important affair, nei- 
ther the empress queen nor her husband being present. Three 



380 EKEDERICK THE GKEAT. 

Prussian officers made their appearance. It was said that they 
had come to inveigle soldiers to desert, and enlist under the 
banners of Prussia. They were peremptorily ordered by the 
Austrian authorities to leave the ground. Frederick, when he 
heard of it, said nothing, but treasured it up. 

A few months after, in May, 1750, there was a grand review 
at Berlin. An Austrian officer who chanced to be there was in- 
vited by his friend, a Prussian officer, Lieutenant Colonel Chasot, 
to attend. The Austrian was not willing to ride upon the pa- 
rade-ground without the permission of the king. Colonel Chasot 
called upon Frederick and informed him that an Austrian officer 
would be happy, with his majesty's permission, to be present at 
the review. 

" Certainly, certainly," exclaimed the king. 

This was on the evening before the review. On the morrow 
the Austrian accordingly rode upon the field. He had hardly 
arrived there when, just as the manoeuvres were commencing, 
one of the aids-de-camp of Frederick galloped up to him and 
said, " By the king's command, sir, you are ordered instantly to 
retire from this field." 

Colonel Chasot, exceedingly chagrined, rode directly to the 
king, and inquired, " Did not your majesty grant me permission 
to invite my friend to the review V 

" Certainly," replied the king, in his most courteous tones ; 
" and if he had not come, how could I have paid back the 
Mahren business of last year V 

It is pleasant to record another incident more creditable to 
Frederick. In the year 1750 there was a poor and aged school- 
master, by the name of Linsenbarth, a very worthy man, a veri- 
table Dominie Sampson, residing in the obscure village ofHemm- 
leben. He had been educated as a clergyman, had considerable 
book learning, was then out of employment, and was in extreme 
destitution. The pastor of the village church died, leaving a 
vacant pulpit, and a salary amounting to about one hundred dol- 
lars a year. The great man of the place, a feudal lord named 
Von Werthern, offered the situation to Linsenbarth upon condi- 
tion that he would marry his lady's termagant waiting-maid. 
Linsenbarth, who had no fancy for the haughty shrew, declined 
the offer. The lord and lady were much offended, and in vari- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 381 

ous ways rendered the situation of the poor schoolmaster so un- 
comfortable that he gathered up his slender means, amounting 
to about three hundred dollars, all in the deteriorated coin of 
the province, and went to Berlin. His money was in a bag con- 
taining nearly nine thousand very small pieces of coin, called 
batzen. 

At the custom-house the poor man's coin was seized as contra- 
band. He was informed that the king had forbidden the circu- 
lation of that kind of money in Berlin. The heartless officials 
laughed at the poor man's distress, paid no regard to his remon- 
strances and pleadings, and locked up his confiscated coin. 

Poor Linsenbarth had a feather bed, a small chest of clothes, 
and a bag of books. He went, to a humble inn, called the 
"White Swan," utterly penniless. The landlord, seeing that he 
could levy upon his luggage in case of need, gave him food and 
a small room in the garret to sleep in. Here he remained in a 
state verging upon despair for eight weeks. Some of the simple 
neighbors advised him to go directly to the king, as every poor 
man could do at certain hours in the day. He wrote a brief 
statement of the facts, and started on foot for Potsdam. We 
give the result in the words of Linsenbarth : 

" At Potsdam I was lucky enough to see the king. He was 
on the esplanade drilling his troops. When the drill was over 
he went into the garden, and the soldiers dispersed. Four offi- 
cers remained lounging on the esplanade. For fright, I knew 
not what to do ; I drew the papers from my pocket. These 
were my memorial, two certificates of character, and a Thuringian 
pass. The officers, noticing this, came directly to me and said, 
'What letters have you there?' I thankfully imparted the 
whole. When the officers had read them, they said, 'We will 
give you good advice. The king is extra gracious to-day, and is 
gone alone into the garden. Follow him straight. You will 
have luck.' 

" This I would not do ; my awe was too great. They there- 
upon laid hands upon me. One took me by the right arm, an- 
other by the left, and Jed me to the garden. Having got me 
there, they looked out for the king. He was among the garden- 
ers examining some rare plant, and had his back to us. Here I 
had to halt. The officers began in an under tone to put me 



382 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



through my drill. ' Take your hat under your left arm ; put 
your right foot foremost ; breast well forward ; hold your head 
up ; hold your papers aloft in your right hand; there, so — steady 
— steady !' 

" They then went away, often looking around to see if I kept 
my posture. I perceived well enough that they were making 
game of me ; but I stood all the same like a wall, being full of 
fear. "When the king turned round he gave a look at me like a 
flash of sunbeams glancing through you. He sent one of the 
gardeners to bring my papers. Taking them, he disappeared in 
one of the garden walks. In a few minutes he came back with 
my papers open in his hand, and waved with them for me to 
come nearer. I plucked up heart and went directly to him. 
Oh, how graciously this great monarch deigned to speak to me ! 




FREDERICK AND LIN'SENBARTH. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 383 

" ' My good Thuringian,' said the king, ' you came to Berlin 
seeking to earn your bread by the industrious teaching of chil- 
dren, and here at the custom-house they have taken your money 
from you. True, the batzen are not legal here. They should 
have said to you, " You are a stranger and did not know of the 
prohibition. We will seal up the bag of batzen. You can send 
it back to Thuringia and get it changed for other coin." Be of 
good heart, however. You shall have your money again, and 
interest too. But, my poor man, in Berlin they do not give any 
thing gratis. You are a stranger. Before you are known and 
get to teaching, your bit of money will be all gone. What then?' 

" I understood the speech perfectly well, but my awe was too 
great to allow me to say, ' Your majesty will have the grace to 
allow me something.' But as I was so simple, and asked for 
nothing, he did not offer any thing. And so he turned away. 
But he had gone scarcely six or eight steps w T hen he looked 
around and gave me a sign to walk by his side." 

The king then questioned him very closely respecting the 
place where he had studied, during what years, under what 
teachers, and to what branches he had devoted special attention. 
While thus conversing the clock struck twelve. This was the 
dinner-hour of his majesty. " Now I must go " said the king. 
" They wait for their soup." 

Linsenbarth, thus left alone, sauntered from the garden back 
to the esplanade. There he stood quite bewildered. He had 
walked that day twenty miles beneath a July sun and over the 
burning sands. He had eaten nothing. He had not a farthing 
in his pocket. 

" In this tremor of my heart," writes Linsenbarth, " there came 
a valet out of the palace and asked, 'Where is the man that was 
with my king in. the garden V I answered, ' Here.' He led me 
into the palace to a large room, where pages, lackeys, and soldier 
valets were about. My valet took me to a little table excellent- 
ly furnished with soup, beef; likewise carp, dressed with garden 
salad ; likewise game, with cucumber salad ; bread, knife, fork, 
plate, spoon were all there. My valet set me a chair, and said, 

" ' This that is on the table the king has ordered to be served 
for you. You are to eat your fill and mind nobody. I am to 
serve.' 



384 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" I was greatly astonished, and knew not what to do ; least of 
all could it come into my head that the king's valet who waited 
on his majesty should wait on me. I pressed him to sit by me; 
but, as he refused, I did as bidden. 

" The valet took the beef from the table and set it on the char- 
coal dish until wanted. He did the like with the fish and roast 
game, and poured me out wine and beer. I ate and drank till I 
had abundantly enough. Dessert, confectionery, what I could. 
A plate of big black cherries and a plateful of pears my waiting- 
man wrapped in paper, and stuffed them into my pockets' to be 
a refreshment on the way home. And so I rose from the royal 
table, and thanked God and the king in my heart that I had 
so gloriously dined. At that moment a secretary came, brought 
me a sealed order for the custom-house at Berlin, with my cer- 
tificates and the pass; told down on the table five tail-ducats 
and a gold Friedrich under them, saying, ' The king sent me this 
to take me home to Berlin.'* 

"And if the hussar took me into the palace, it was now the 
secretary took me out again. And there, yoked with six horses, 
stood a royal wagon, which, having led me to, the secretary said, 
' You people, the king has given order that you are to take this 
stranger to Berlin, and you are to accept no drink-money from 
him.' I again testified my thankfulness for the royal kindness, 
took my place, and rolled away. 

" On reaching Berlin I went at once to the custom-house,- and 
handed them my royal order. The head man opened the seal. 
In reading, he changed color — went from pale to red;, said noth- 
ing, and gave it to the second man to read. The second put on 
his spectacles, read, and gave it to the third. However ; the head 
man rallied himself at last. I was to come forward and be so 
good as to write a receipt that I had received for my four hun- 
dred thalers, all in batzen, the same sum in Brandenburg coin, 
ready down, without the least deduction. My cash was at once 
accurately paid, and thereupon the steward was ordered to go 
with me to the ' White Swan,' and pay what I owed there, what- 
ever my score was. That was what the king had meant when 
he said 'you shall have your money back, and interest too.' " 

* ' ' About three pounds ten shillings, I think — better than ten pounds in our day to a common 
man, and better than one hundred pounds to a Linsenbarth/' — Carlyle. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 385 

This good old man died in Berlin on the 24th of August, 
1777, eighty-eight years of age. 

In the autumn of 1750 Frederick held a famous Berlin ca- 
rousal, the celebrity of which filled all Europe. Distinguished 
guests flocked to the city from all the adjoining realms. Wil- 
helmina came to share in the festivities. Voltaire was also pres- 
ent, "the observed of all observers." An English gentleman, Sir 
Jonas Hanway, in the following terms describes the appearance 
of Frederick at this time : 

" His Prussian majesty rides much about, often at a rapid rate, 
with a pleasant business aspect — humane, though imperative; 
handsome to look upon, though with a face perceptibly reddish. 
His age, now thirty-eight gone ; a set appearance, as if already 
got into his forties; complexion florid; figure muscular, almost 
tending to be plump." 

The carousal presented a very splendid spectacle. It took 
place by night, and the spacious arena was lighted by thirty 
thousand torches. The esplanade of the palace, which presented 
an ample parallelogram, was surrounded by an amphitheatre of 
rising seats, crowded with the beauties and dignitaries of Eu- 
rope. At one end of the parallelogram was a royal box, tapes- 
tried with the richest hangings. The king sat there ; his sister, 
the Princess Amelia, was by his side, as queen of the festival. 
Where the neglected wife of Frederick was is not recorded. The 
entrance for the cavaliers was opposite the throne. The jousting 
parties consisted of four bands, representing Romans, Persians, 
Carthaginians, and Greeks. They were decorated with splendid 
equipments of jewelry, silver helmets, sashes, and housings, and 
were mounted on the most spirited battle-steeds which Europe 
could furnish. The scene was enlivened by exhilarating music, 
and by the most -gorgeous decorations and picturesque costumes 
"which the taste and art of the times could create. The festivi- 
ties were closed by a ball in the vast saloons of the palace, and 
by a supper, where the tables were loaded with every delicacy. 

Voltaire was received on this occasion with very distinguished 
honor. The king, in inviting him to the court, had sent him a 
sum amounting to three thousand dollars to pay the expenses of 
his journey. He had also conferred upon him the cross of the or- 
der of Merit, and a pension of about four thousand dollars a year. 

Bb 



386 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




TOURNAMENT AT BERLIN IN HONOR OF FREDERICK. 



For a time Frederick and Voltaire seem to have lived very 
pleasantly together. Voltaire writes: "I was lodged under the 
king's apartment, and never left my room except for-supper. The 
king composed, above stairs, works of philosophy, history, poet- 
ry ; and his favorite, below stairs, cultivated the same arts and 
the same talents. They communicated to one another their re- 
spective works. The Prussian monarch composed, at this time, 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 387 

liis ' History of Brandenburg ; ? and the French author wrote his 
' Age of Louis XIV.,' having brought with him all his materials.* 
His days thus passed happily in a repose which was only ani- 
mated by agreeable occupations. Nothing, indeed, could be more 
delightful than this way of life, or more honorable to philosophy 
and literature." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE QUARREL. 

Voltaire and the Jew. — Letter from Frederick to D'Arget. — Letter to Wilhelmina. — Caustic 
Letters to Voltaire. — Partial Reconciliation. — Frederick's brilliant Conversational Powers. — 
His Neglect of his Wife. — All Females excluded from his Court. — Maupertuis and the Acad- 
emy. — Voltaire's Malignity. — Frederick's Anger. — Correspondence between Voltaire and 
Maupertuis. — Menaces of War. — Catt and the King. 

The king and Voltaire soon became involved in a very serious 
quarrel. Voltaire had employed a Jew, by the name of Hirsch, 
to engage fraudulently in speculating in the funds. The trans- 
action was so complicated that few of our readers would have 
the patience to follow an attempt at its disentanglement. Vol- 
taire and his agent quarreled. The contention rang through 
all the court circles, as other conspicuous names were involved 
in the meshes of the intrigue. A lawsuit ensued, which created 
excitement almost inconceivable. The recent law reform caused 
the process to be pushed very rapidly to its conclusion. Vol- 
taire emerged from the suit with his character sadly maimed. 
He was clearly convicted of both falsehood and forgery. The 
king, annoyed by the clamor, retired from Berlin to Sans Souci. 
Voltaire was not invited to accompany him, but was left in the 
Berlin palace. In a letter which Frederick wrote to D'Arget, 
dated April, 1752, he says : 

" Voltaire has conducted himself like a blackguard and a con- 
summate rascal. I have talked to him as he deserved. He is a 
sad fellow. I am quite ashamed for human abilities that a man 
who has so much of them should be so full of wickedness. I 
am not surprised that people talk at Paris of the quarrel of our 
beaux esprits. Voltaire is the most mischievous madman I ever 
knew. He is only good to read. It is impossible for you to 

* Commentaire Historique sur les (Euvres de I'Auteur de la Henriade. 



388 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

imagine the duplicities, the impositions, the infamies he practiced 
here. I am quite indignant that so much talent and acquire- 
ment do not make men better. I took the part of Maupertuis 
because he is a good sort of man, and the other had determined 
upon ruining him. A little too much vanity had rendered him 
too sensitive to the manoeuvres of this monkey, whom he ought 
to have despised after having castigated him."* 

Frederick* wrote to Wilhelmina : "Voltaire picks Jews' pock- 
ets, but he will get out of it by some somersault." 

Voltaire fell sick. He had already quarreled with many per- 
sons, and had constrained the king in many cases, very reluctant- 
ly, to take his part. He now wrote to Frederick, begging per- 
mission to join him in the quietude of Sans Souci. The follow- 
ing extracts from the reuly of his majesty will be read with in- 
terest : 

"Potsdam, February 24, 1751. 

"I was glad to receive you in my house. I esteemed your 
genius, your talents, and your acquirements. I had reason to 
think that a man of your age, weary of fencing against authors, 
and exposing himself to the storm, came hither to take refuge, as 
in a safe harbor." 

After briefly alluding to the many quarrels in which Voltaire 
had been involved, the king adds : 

"You have had the most villainous affair with a Jew. It has 
made a frightful scandal all over town. For my own part, I 
have preserved peace in my house until your arrival; and I 
warn you that, if you have the passion of intriguing and.cabal- 
ing, you have applied to the wrong person. I like peaceable, 
quiet people, who do not put into their conduct the violent pas- 
sions of tragedy. In case you can resolve to live like a philoso- 
pher, I shall be glad to see you. But if you abandon yourself 
to all the violence of your passions, and get into quarrels with 
all the world, you will do me no good by coming hither, and 
you may as well stay in Berlin." 

Four days after this Frederick wrote again, in answer to addi- 
tional applications from Voltaire. 

"If you wish to come hither you can. I hear nothing of law- 
suits, not even of yours. Since you have gained it I congratu- 

* Supplement aux (Euvres Posthumes de Frediric, ii. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 389 

late you, and I am glad that this scurvy affair is done.* I hope 
you will have no more quarrels, either with the Old or the New- 
Testament. Such contentions leave their mark upon a man. 
Even with the talents of the finest genius in France, you will 
not cover the stains which this conduct will fasten on your repu- 
tation in the long run. I write this letter with the rough com- 
mon sense of a German, without employing equivocal terms 
which disfigure the truth. It is for you to profit by it." 

Voltaire's visit lasted about thirty-two months. He was, 
however, during all this time, fast losing favor with the king. 
Instead of being received as an inmate at Sans Souci, he was as- 
signed to a small country house in the vicinity, called the Mar- 
quisat. His wants were, however, all abundantly provided for 
at the expense of the king. It is evident from his letters that 
he was a very unhappy man. He was infirm in health, irascible, 
discontented, crabbed ; suspecting every one of being his enemy, 
jealous of his companions, and with a diseased mind, crowded 
with superstitious fears. 

On one occasion, when the king had sent him a manuscript to 
revise, he sarcastically exclaimed to the royal messenger, "When 
will his majesty be done with sending me his dirty linen to 
wash ?" This speech was repeated to the king. He did not lose 
his revenge. 

Frederick was endowed with brilliant powers of conversation. 
He was fond of society, where he could exercise and display 
these gifts and accomplishments. Frequent suppers were given 
at Sans Souci, which lasted from half past eight till midnight. 
Gentlemen only— learned men — were invited to these entertain- 
ments. Frederick was not an amiable man. He took pleasure 
in inflicting the keenest pain possible with his satirical tongue. 
No friend was spared. The more deeply he could strike the lash 
into the quivering nerves of sensibility, the better he seemed 
pleased with himself. 

He could not but respect his wife. Her character was beyond 
all possible reproach. She never uttered a complaint, was cheer- 
ful and faithful in every duty. She had rooms assigned her on 
the second floor of the Berlin palace, where she was comfortably 

* Voltaire boasted that he had gained the cause, because the Jew was fined thirty shillings. 
But he knew full well, as did every one else, that the result of the suit covered him with dishonor. 



390 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

lodged and fed, and had modest receptions every Thursday, 
which were always closed at nine o'clock. A gentleman writes 
from Berlin at this time : 

" The king esteems his wife, and can not endure her. It was 
but a few days ago she handed him a letter petitioning for some 
things of which she had the most pressing want. Frederick 
took the letter with that most smiling, gracious air, which he as- 
sumes at pleasure, and, without breaking the seal, tore it up be- 
fore her face, made her a profound bow, and turned his back on 
her." 

" The king respects his mother," the same writer adds. " She 
is the only female to whom he pays any sort of attention. She 
is a good, fat woman, who moves about in her own way." 

It was a peculiarity quite inexplicable which led Frederick to 
exclude females from his court. His favorites were all men — 
men of some peculiar intellectual ability. He sought their soci- 
ety only. With the exception of his sister, and occasionally 
some foreign princess, ladies were seldom admitted to compan- 
ionship with him. He was a cold, solitary man, so self-reliant 
that he seldom asked or took advice. 

Voltaire hated M. Maupertuis. He was the president of the 
Berlin Academ} 7 , and was regarded by Voltaire as a formidable 
rival. This hatred gave rise to a quarrel between Frederick and 
Voltaire, which was so virulent that Europe was filled with the 
noise of their bickerings. M. Maupertuis had published a pam- 
phlet, in which he assumed to have made some important dis- 
covery upon the law of action. M. Konig, a member of the 
Academy, reviewed the pamphlet, asserting not only that the 
proclaimed law was false, but that it had been promulgated half 
a century before. In support of his position he quoted' from a 
letter of Leibnitz. The original of the letter could not be pro- 
duced. M. Konig was accused of having forged the extract. 
M. Maupertuis, a very jealous, irritable man, by his powerful in- 
fluence as president, caused M. Konig to be expelled from the 
Academy. 

Frederick regarded the Academy as his pet institution, and 
was very jealous of the illustrious philosopher, whom he had in- 
vited to Berlin to preside over its deliberations. Voltaire, 
knowing this very well, and fully aware that to strike the Acad- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 391 

emy in the person of its president was to strike Frederick, wrote 
an anonymous communication to a review published in Paris, in 
which he accused M. Maupertuis — first, of plagiarism, in appro- 
priating to himself a discovery made by another ; secondly, of a 
ridiculous blunder in assuming that said discovery was a philo- 
sophical principle, and not an absurdity ; and thirdly, that he 
had abused his position as president of the Academy in sup- 
pressing free discussion, by expelling from the institution a mem- 
ber merely for not agreeing with him in opinion. These state- 
ments were probably true, and on that account the more dama- 
ging. 

The authorship of the article could not be concealed. Fred- 
erick was indignant. He angrily seized his pen, and wrote a re- 
ply, which, though anonymous, was known by all to have been 
written by the king. In this reply he accused the writer of the 
article, whom he well knew to be Voltaire, of being a " manifest 
retailer of lies," " a concocter of stupid libels," and as " guilty of 
conduct more malicious, more dastardly, more infamous" than he 
had ever known before. 

This roused Voltaire. He did not venture to attack the king, 
but he assailed M. Maupertuis again, anonymously, but with 
greatly increased venom. A brief pamphlet appeared, entitled, 
" The Diatribe of Doctor Akakia, Physician to the Pope." It 
was a merciless satire against M. Maupertuis. Voltaire was en- 
tirely unscrupulous, and was perfect master of the language of 
sarcasm. No moral principle restrained him from exaggerating, 
misrepresenting, or fabricating any falsehoods which would sub- 
serve his purpose. M. Maupertuis was utterly overwhelmed 
with ridicule. The satire was so keen that few could read it 
without roars of laughter. Voltaire, the king's guest, was thus 
exposing to the contempt of all Europe the president of the Ber- 
lin Academy, the reputation of which Academy was dear to the 
king above almost every thing else. An edition of the pamphlet 
was printed in Holland, and copies were scattered all over Ber- 
lin. Another edition was published in Paris, where thirty thou- 
sand copies were eagerly purchased. 

Frederick was in a towering passion. Voltaire was alarmed 
at the commotion he had created. He wrote a letter to the king, 
in which he declared most solemnly that he had not intended to 



392 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

have the pamphlet published ; that a copy had been obtained 
by treachery, and had been printed without his consent or 
knowledge. But the king wrote back : 

"Your effrontery astonishes me. What you have done is clear 
as the day ; and yet, instead of confessing your culpability, you 
persist in denying it. Do you think you can make people be- 
lieve that black is white ? All shall be made public, Then it 
will be seen whether, if your words deserve statues, your con- 
duct does not deserve chains." 

The king, in his anger, ordered all the pamphlets in Berlin to 
be collected and burned by the common hangman, in front of 
Voltaire's windows. Three months passed away, during which 
the parties remained in this deplorable state of antagonism. 
Voltaire was wretched, often confined to his bed, and looked like 
a skeleton. He was anxious to leave Berlin, but feared that the 
king would not grant him leave. He wrote to Frederick, stating 
that he was very sick, and wished to retire to the springs of 
Plombieres for his health. The king curtly replied, 

" There was no need of that pretext about the waters of Plom- 
bieres in demanding your leave. You can quit my service when 
you like. But, before going, be so good as to return me the key, 
the cross, and the volume of verses which I confided to you. 

" I wish that my works, and only they, had been what Konig 
attacked. I could sacrifice them with a great deal of willingness 
to persons who think of increasing their own reputation by less- 
ening that of others. I have not the folly nor vanity of certain 
authors. The cabals of literary people seem to me the disgrace 
of literature. I do not the less esteem the honorable cultivators 
of literature. It is the cabalers and their leaders that are de- 
graded in my eyes." 

For some unexplained reason, soon after this, the king partial- 
ly relented, and invited Voltaire to Potsdam. He allowed him 
to retain his cross and key, and said nothing about the return 
of the volume of poetry. This was a volume of which twelve 
copies only had been printed. On the 25th of March, 1753, Vol- 
taire left Potsdam for Dresden. 

In the following terms Thiebault describes their parting : The 
final interview between Frederick and Voltaire took place on 
the parade at Potsdam, where the king was then occupied with 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 393 

his soldiers. One of the attendants announced Voltaire to his 
majesty with these words : 

" Sire, here is Monsieur De Voltaire, who is come to receive the 
orders of your majesty." 

Frederick turned to Voltaire and said, " Monsieur De Voltaire, 
are you still determined upon going V 

" Sire, affairs which I can not neglect, and, above all, the state 
of my health, oblige me to it." 

"In that case, sir," replied the king, "I wish you a good jour- 
ney." 

Thus parted these remarkable men, who were never destined 
to meet again. 

Voltaire, being safe out of Prussia, in the territory of the King 
of Poland, instead of hastening to Plombieres, tarried in Dres- 
den, and then in Leipsic. From those places he began shooting, 
through magazines, newspapers, and various other instrumentali- 
ties, his poisoned darts at M. Maupertuis. Though these malig- 
nant assaults, rapidly following each other, were anonymous, no 
one could doubt their authorship. M. Maupertuis, exasperated, 
wrote to him from Berlin on the 7th of April : 

" If it be true that you design to attack me again, I declare to 
you that I have still health enough to find you, wherever you 
are, and to take the most signal vengeance upon you. Thank 
the respect and obedience which have hitherto restrained my 
arm, and saved you from the worst adventure you have ever 
had. Maupertuis." 

Voltaire replied from Leipsic : 

"M. le President, — I have had the honor to receive your let- 
ter. You inform me that you are well, and that, if I publish La 
Beaumelle's letter,* you will come and assassinate me. What in- 
gratitude to your poor Doctor Akakia ! If you exalt your soul 
so as to discern futurity, you will see that, if you come on that 
errand to Leipsic, where you are no better liked than in other 
places, you will run some risk of being hanged. Poor me, in- 
deed, you will find in bed. But, as soon as I have gained a lit- 
tle strength, I will have my pistols charged, and, multiplying the 

* This was a private letter which reflected severely upon the character of Maupertuis. 



394 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

mass by the square of velocity, so as to reduce the action and 
you to zero, I will put some lead into your head. It appears 
that you have need of it. Adieu, my president. Akakia." 

There were some gross vulgarities in Voltaire's letter which 
we refrain from quoting. Both of these communications were 
printed and widely circulated, exciting throughout Europe con- 
tempt and derision. Voltaire had still the copy of the king's pri- 
vate poems. Frederick, quite irritated, and not knowing what 
infamous use Voltaire might make of the volume, which con- 
tained some very severe satires against prominent persons, and 
particularly against his uncle, the King of England, determined, 
at all hazards, to recover the book. He knew it would be of no 
avail to write to Voltaire to return it. 

Voltaire, on his journey to Paris, would pass through Frank- 
fort. Frederick secretly employed a Prussian officer to obtain 
from the authorities there the necessary powers, and to arrest 
him, and take from him the cross of Merit, the gold key of the 
chamberlain, and especially the volume of poems. The officer, 
M. Freytag, kept himself minutely informed of Voltaire's move- 
ments. At eight o'clock in the evening of the 31st of May the il- 
lustrious philosopher arrived, with a small suite, traveling in con- 
siderable state, and stopped at the "Golden Lion." M. Freytag 
was on the spot. He was a man of distinction. He called upon 
Voltaire, and, after the interchange of the customary civilities, 
informed the poet that he was under the necessity of arresting 
him in the name of the King of Prussia, and detaining him until 
he should surrender the cross, the key, and the volume of poems. 
Voltaire was greatly annoyed. He professed warm friendship 
for the King of Prussia. Very reluctantly, and not until after 
several hours of altercation, he surrendered the key and the cross. 
The volume of poems he was very anxious indeed to retain, and 
affirmed that they were, he knew not where; with luggage he 
had left behind him in Leipsic or Dresden. He was informed 
that he would be detained as a prisoner until the volume was 
produced. 

In a state of great exasperation,Voltaire wrote for a large trunk 
to be sent to him which contained the book. To save himself 
from the humiliation of being guarded as a prisoner, he gave his 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 395 

parole dlhonneur that he would not go beyond the garden of 
the inn. After a delay of three weeks, Voltaire decided, notwith- 
standing his parole, to attempt his escape. His reputation was 
such that M. Freytag had no confidence in his word, and em- 
ployed spies to watch his every movement. 

On the 20th of June, Voltaire dressed himself in disguise, and, 
with a companion, M. Coligny, entered a hackney-coach, and or- 
dered the driver to leave the city by the main gate. M. Freytag 
was immediately informed of this by his spies. With mounted 
men he commenced the pursuit, overtook the carriage as it was 
delayed a moment at the gate, and arrested the fugitive in the 
king's name. Voltaire's eyes sparkled with fury, and he raved 
insanely. The scene gathered a crowd, and Voltaire was taken 
by a guard of soldiers to another inn, " The Billy-Goat," as the 
landlord of the " Golden Lion 7 ' refused any longer to entertain so 
troublesome a guest. 

All Frankfort was excited by these events. The renown of 
Voltaire as a philosopher, a poet, and as the friend of Frederick, 
filled Europe. His eccentricities were the subject of general re- 
mark. The most distinguished men, by birth and culture, had 
paid him marked attention during his brief compulsory sojourn 
in Frankfort. Having arrived at " The Billy-Goat," his conduct, 
according to the report of M. Freytag, was that of a madman, in 
which attempted flight, feigned vomitings, and a cocked pistol 
took part. The account which Voltaire gave of these events is 
now universally pronounced to be grossly inaccurate. 

On the 6th of July, the trunk having arrived, the volume of 
poems was recovered, and Voltaire was allowed to go on his way. 
His pen, dipped in gall, was an instrument which even a monarch 
might fear. It inflicted wounds upon the reputation of Freder- 
ick which will probably never be healed. Four years passed 
away, during which Voltaire and Frederick were almost entirely 
strangers to each other. 

The merciless satires of Voltaire, exposing Maupertuis to the 
ridicule of all Europe, proved death-blows to the sensitive phi- 
losopher. He was thrown into a state of great dejection, which 
induced disease, of which he died in 1759. Maupertuis needed , 
this discipline. In the proud days of prosperity he had rejected 
Christianity. In these hours of adversity, oppressed by humilia- 



396 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

tion and pain, and with the grave opening before him, he felt the 
need of the consolations of religion. Christian faith cheered the 
sadness of his dying hours.* 

The Marquis D'Argens, another of Frederick's infidel compan- 
ions, one whom Voltaire described as " the most frank atheist in 
Europe," after a very ignoble life of sin and shame, having quar- 
reled with the king, found himself aged, poor, friendless, and in- 
firm. He then, experiencing need of different support from any 
which infidelity could give, became penitent and prayerful. Ee- 
nouncing his unbelief, he became an openly avowed disciple of 
Jesus.f 

What effect was produced upon the mind of Frederick as he 
saw one after another of his boon companions in infidelity,in their 
hours of sickness and approaching death, seeking the consola- 
tions of religion, we do not know. The proud king kept his lips 
hermetically sealed upon that subject. Voltaire, describing the 
suppers of the gay revelers at Sans Souci, writes : 

" Never was there a place in the world where liberty of speech 
was so fully indulged, or where the various superstitions of men 
were treated with so much ridicule and contempt. God was re- 
spected. But those who, in His name, had imposed on mankind, 
were not spared. Neither women nor priests ever entered the 
palace. In a word, Frederick lived without a court, without a 
council, and without a religion." 

Prussia had enjoyed eight years of peace. But Frederick was 
not a popular man excepting with his own subjects. They idol- 
ized him. Innumerable are the anecdotes related illustrative of 
his kindness to them. He seemed to be earnestly seeking their 
welfare. But foreign courts feared him. Many hated him. He 
was unscrupulous and grasping, and had but very little sense of 
moral integrity. He was ambitious of literary renown ; of rep- 
utation as a keen satirist. With both pen and tongue he was 
prone to lash without mercy his brother sovereigns, and even 
the courtiers who surrounded him. There were no ties of friend- 
ship which could exempt any one from his sarcasm. Other sov- 
ereigns felt that he was continually on the watch to enlarge his 
realms, by invading their territories, as he had robbed Maria 
Theresa of the province of Silesia. 

* Thiebault, Souvenirs de Vinyt Arts de. Sejour a Berlin. f Biographie Universelle. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 397 

Some years before this time Frederick had taken possession 
of East Friesland, and had made Emden a port of entry. It was 
a very important acquisition, as it opened to Prussia a convenient 
avenue for maritime commerce. With great vigor and sagacity 
Frederick was encouraging this commerce, thus strengthening 
his kingdom and enriching his subjects. England, mistress of 
the seas, and then, as usual, at war with France, was covering all 
the adjacent waters with her war-ships and privateers. Freder- 
ick had inquired of the English court, through his embassador 
at London, whether hemp, flax, or timber were deemed contra- 
band. u No" was the official response. Freighted with such 
merchandise, the Prussian ships freely sailed in all directions. 
But soon an English privateer seized several of them, upon the 
assumption that the planks with which they were loaded were 
contraband. 

It was an outrage to which Frederick was not disposed to sub- 
mit. He entered his remonstrances. The question was referred 
to the British Court of Admiralty. Month after month the de- 
cision was delayed. Frederick lost all patience. English cap- 
italists held Silesian bonds to the amount of about one million 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

"I must have my ships back again," said Frederick to the 
British court. " The law's delay in England is, I perceive, very 
considerable. My people, who have had their property thus 
wrested from theni, can not conveniently wait. I shall indem- 
nify them from the money due on the Silesian bonds, and shall 
give England credit for the same. Until restitution is made, I 
shall not pay either principle or interest on those bonds." 

The British court was frantic with rage. Frederick had a 
strong army on the frontiers of Hanover. The first hostile gun 
fired would be the signal for the invasion of that province, and 
' it would inevitably be wrested from the British crown. The 
lion roared, but did not venture to use either teeth or claws. 
•England was promptly brought to terms. It was grandly done 
of Frederick. There was something truly sublime in the quiet, 
noiseless, apparently almost indifferent air with which Frederick 
accomplished his purpose. 

Maria Theresa was more and more unreconciled to the loss of 
Silesia. Never for an hour did she relinquish the idea of event- 



398 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ually regaining the province. The various treaties into which 
she had been compelled to enter she regarded as merely tempo- 
rary arrangements. Between the years 1752 and 1755 the en- 
ergetic and persistent queen was making secret arrangements for 
the renewal of the Silesian war. 

The King of Poland, who was also Elector of Saxony, had 
strong feelings of personal hostility to Frederick. His prime 
minister, Count Von Bruhl, even surpassed his royal master in 
the bitter antagonism with which he regarded the Prussian 
monarch. Frederick, whose eagle eye was ever open, and whose 
restless mind was always on the alert, suspected that a coalition 
was about to be formed against him. He had false keys made 
to the royal archives at Dresden ; bribed one of the officials 
there, M. Menzel, stealthily to enter the chamber of the archives, 
and copy for him such extracts as would throw any light upon 
the designs of the court. Among other items of intelligence, he 
found that Austria, Russia, and Poland were deliberating upon 
the terms of a coalition against him. 

On the 15th of May, 1753, the Russian Senate had passed the 
resolution that it should henceforth be the policy of Russia not 
only to resist all further encroachments on the part of Prussia, 
but to seize the first opportunity to force the Prussian monarch 
back to the possession of simply his original boundary of Bran- 
denburg. It was also agreed that, should Prussia attack any of 
the allies of Russia, or be attacked by any of them, the armies 
of the czar should immediately array themselves against the 
armies of Frederick. There were many other papers, more or 
less obscure, which rendered it very certain that Maria Theresa 
would ere long make a new attempt to regain Silesia, and that 
in that attempt she would be aided both by Russia and Poland. 
Frederick also knew full well that nothing would better please 
his uncle George II. of England than to see Prussia 7 crowded 
back to her smallest limits. To add to Frederick's embarrass- 
ment, France was hopelessly alienated from him. 

Many bitter words had already passed between Louis XV. 
and Frederick. But recently a new element of discord had ap- 
peared. The Duchess of Pompadour, the guilty favorite of Louis 
XV., beautiful, fascinating, and wicked, had become a power in 
Europe, notwithstanding the ignoble position she occupied. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 399 

This artful and enchanting woman, having the weak king com- 
pletely under her control, was in reality the ruler of France. 
The proudest nobles and the highest ecclesiastics bowed submis- 
sively at her shrine. Even the immaculate Maria Theresa, con- 
strained by state policy, wrote flattering notes to her, addressing 
her as " my cousin," " princess and cousin," " maclame, my dear- 
est sister." 

The pampered duchess sent by the French minister to Berlin 
a complimentary message to Frederick. He disdainfully replied : 
" The Duchess of Pompadour ! who is she ? I do not know her." 
This was an offense never to be forgiven. 

Frederick was now in imminent danger of being assailed by a 
coalition of Austria, Russia, Poland, and England. Indeed, it 
was by no means certain that France might not also join the al- 
liance. All this was the result of Frederick's great crime in 
wresting Silesia from Austria. Such was the posture of affairs 
when, in the summer of 1755, Frederick decided to take a trip 
into Holland incognito. He disguised himself with a black wig, 
and assumed the character of a musician of the King of Poland. 
At Amsterdam he embarked for Utrecht in the common passage- 
boat. The king mingled with the other passengers without any 
one suspecting his rank. There chanced to be in the boat a 
young Swiss gentleman, Henry de Catt, twenty-seven years of 
age. He was a teacher, taking a short tour for recreation. He 
gives the following account of his interview with the king, whom, 
at the time, he had no reason to suppose was other than an or- 
dinary passenger. We give the narrative in his own words : 

" As I could not get into the cabin, because it was all engaged, 
I staid with the other passengers in the steerage, and the weather 
being fine, came upon deck. After some time there stepped out 
of the cabin a man in cinnamon-colored coat with gold buttons ; 
in black wig ; face and coat considerably dusted with Spanish 
snuff. He looked at me fixedly for a while, and then said, 
without farther preface, 'Who are you, sir?' This cavalier tone 
from an unknown person, whose exterior indicated nothing very 
important, did not please me, and I declined satisfying his curios- 
ity. He was silent. But some time after he assumed a more 
courteous tone, and said, c Come in here to me, sir. You will be 
better here than in the steerage amidst the tobacco-smoke. 1 



400 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" This polite address put an end to all anger ; and, as the sin- 
gular manner of the man excited my curiosity, I took advantage 
of the invitation. We sat down and began to speak confiden- 
tially with one another. 

" i Do you see the man in the garden yonder, sitting, smoking 
his pipe V said he to me. ' That man, you may depend upon it, 
is not happy.' 

"'I know not/ I answered ; 'but it seems to me, until one 
knows a man, and is completely acquainted with his situation 
and his way of thought, one can not possibly determine whether 
he is happy or unhappy. 7 

" My gentleman admitted this, and led the conversation on to 
the Dutch government. He criticised it — probably to bring me 
to speak. I did speak, and gave him frankly to know that he 
was not perfectly instructed in the thing he was criticising. 

" ' You are right,' answered he ; l one can only criticise what 
one is thoroughly acquainted with.' 

" He now began to speak of religion ; and, with eloquent 
tongue, to recount what mischiefs scholastic philosophy had 
brought upon the world ; then tried to prove that creation was 
impossible. 

" At this last point I stood out in opposition. ' But how can 
one create something out of nothing V said he. 

" ' That is not- the question,' I answered. ' The question is, 
whether such a being as God can, or can not, give existence to 
what, as yet, has none.' 

" He seemed embarrassed, and added, ' But the universe is 
eternal.' 

" ' You are in a circle,' said I. ' How will you get out of it V 

" ' I skip over it,' he replied, laughing ; and then began to talk 
of other things. He inquired, 

" f What form of government do you reckon the best V 

" ' The monarchic, if the king is just and enlightened.' 

" ' Very well,' said he ; l but where will you find kings of that 
sort V And thereupon went into such a sally as. could not in 
the least lead me to suppose that he was one. In the end, he 
expressed pity for them, that they could not know the sweets of 
friendship, and cited on the occasion these verses — his own, I 
suppose : 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 401 

" 'Amitie, plaisir des grandes ames ; 

Amitie, que les rois, ces illustres ingrats 
Sont assez malheureux de ne connaitre pas!' 

" ' I have not the honor to be acquainted with kings/ said I ; 
' but, to judge from what one has read in history of several of 
them, I should believe, sir, on the whole, that you are right. 7 

" ' Ah ! yes, yes,' he added, ' I'm right. I know the gentlemen.' 

" A droll incident happened during our dialogue. My gentle- 
man wanted to let down a little sash window, and could not 
manage it. ' You do not understand that,' said I ; ' let me do it.' 
I tried to get it down, but succeeded no better than he. 

" ' Sir,' said he, ' allow me to remark, on my side, that you un- 
derstand as little of it as I.' 

" ' That is true,' I replied, ' and I beg your pardon. I was too 
rash in accusing you of a want of expertness.' 

" ' Were you ever in Germany V he now asked me. 

" 'No,' I answered; 'but I should like to make that journey. 
I am very curious to see the Prussian states and their king, of 
whom one hears so much.' And now I began to launch out on 
Frederick's actions. 

"But he interrupted me hastily with the word, 'Nothing more 
of kings, sir — nothing more. What have we to do with them \ 
We will spend the rest of our voyage on more agreeable and 
cheering objects.' And now he spoke of the best of all possible 
worlds, and maintained that in our planet, earth, there was more 
evil than good. I maintained the contrary, and this discussion 
brought us to the end of the voyage. 

" On quitting me he said, ' I hope, sir, you will leave me your 
name. I am very glad to have made your acquaintance. Per- 
haps we shall see one another again.' I replied as was fitting to 
the compliment,. and begged him to excuse me for having contra- 
• dieted him a little. I then told him my name, and we parted." 

How soon Henry learned that he had been conversing with 
the King of Prussia we do not know. It is evident that Fred- 
erick was pleased with the interview. He soon after invited 
Henry de Catt to his court, and appointed him reader to the 
king. In this capacity he served his Prussian majesty for about 
twenty years. He left a note-book in the royal archives of Ber- 
lin from which the above extracts are taken. 

Cc 



402 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 

Secret Preparations for a Coalition. — Frederick's Embarrassments. — The uncertain Support of 
England. — Causes of the War. — Commencement of Hostilities. — Letter from Frederick to his 
Sister Amelia. — Letter to his Brother. — The Invasion of Saxony. — Misfortunes of the Royal 
Family of Poland. — Battle of Lobositz. — Energetic Military Movements. — Prisoners of War 
compelled to enlist in the Prussian Service. — Dispatches from Frederick. — Battle of Prague. 
— Battle of Kolin. — Retreat of Frederick. — Death of Sophia Dorothea. 

We now enter upon the third Silesian war, usually termed in 
history The Seven Years 7 War. For four years Frederick had 
been aware that a coalition was secretly forming against him. 
Maria Theresa wished, with ardor which had never for one mo- 
ment abated, to regain Silesia. All the other European powers, 
without exception, desired to curb Frederick, whose ambition 
they feared. They were well aware that he was taking advant- 
age of a few years of peace to replenish his treasury, and to en- 
large his army for new conquests. As we have before stated, 
Frederick, by bribery, had fully informed himself of the secret 
arrangements into which Austria, Russia, Poland, and other pow- 
ers were entering for the dismemberment of his realms. It is in 
vain to attempt to unravel the intricacies of the diplomacy which 
ensued. 

England, while endeavoring to subsidize Russia against Fred- 
erick, entered secretly into a sort of alliance with Frederick, hop- 
ing thus to save Hanover. The Empress Elizabeth, of Russia, 
heartily united with Maria Theresa against Frederick, whom she 
personally disliked, and whose encroachments she dreaded. His 
Prussian majesty, proud of his powers of sarcasm, in his poems 
spared neither friend nor foe. He had written some very severe 
things against the Russian empress, which had reached her ears.* 

* In a letter which the Prince of Prussia, Augustus William, wrote to the king, remonstrating 
against those encroachments which were arraying all Europe against him,4ie says: "Russia is 
persuaded that your designs upon her occasioned the applications which you have made to the 
court of Vienna to substitute a truce of two years in room of a solemn treaty of peace. She be- 
lieves that you wanted to tie up the hands of the empress queen so as to put it out of her power 
to succor her ally ; that a war against Russia was the principal object of your intrigues in Swe- 
den ; that you have designs upon Courland ; that Polish Prussia and Pomerania Avould be very 
convenient to you ; and that you find Russia the greatest obstacle to this rounding of your do- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 403 

Frederick was in great perplexity. To wait for his enemies 
to complete their arrangements, and to commence the attack at 
their leisure, placed him at great disadvantage. To begin the 
attack himself, and thus to open anew the floodgates of war, 
would increase the hostility with which the nations were re- 
garding him. As the diplomacy of the foreign cabinets had been 
secret, he would universally be regarded as the aggressor. En- 
gland was Frederick's only ally — a treacherous ally, influenced 
not by sympathy for Frederick, but by hatred of France, and by 
fear of the loss of Hanover. The British cabinet would abandon 
Prussia the first moment it should see it to be for its interest to 
do so. 

. The King of Prussia had an army of two hundred thousand 
men under perfect discipline. The Old Dessauer was dead, but 
many veteran generals were in command. It was manifest that 
war would soon burst forth. In addition to the personal pique 
of the Duchess of Pompadour, who really ruled France, Louis 
XV. was greatly exasperated by the secret alliance into which 
Frederick had entered with England. The brother of the Prus- 
sian king, Augustus William, the heir-apparent to the throne, 
disapproved of this alliance. He said to the French minister, 
Valori, " I would give a finger from my hand had it never been 
concluded." 

In July, 1756, Frederick, for form's sake, inquired, through his 
embassador at Vienna, why Maria Theresa was making such for- 
midable military preparations. At the same time he conferred 
with two of his leading generals, Schwerin and Ketzow, if it 
would not be better, since it was certain that Austria and Rus- 
sia would soon declare war, to anticipate them by an attack upon 
Austria. .The opinion of both, which was in perfect accord with 
that of the king, was that it was best immediately to seize upon 
Saxony, and in that rich and fertile country to gather magazines, 
and make it the base for operations in Bohemia. 

A spy was sent to Saxony, who reported that there were but 
twenty thousand troops there. All necessary information was 
promptly and secretly obtained in reference to roads and for- 
tresses. It required three weeks to receive an answer from Vi- 

minions. In short, she believes that she has the same interest in your abasement as the house 
of Austria,"— Vie de Frederic II., Roi de Prusse, t. ii., p. 318. 



404 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

enna. The reply was evasive, as Frederick knew that it would 
be. In the mean time, his Prussian majesty, with characteristic 
energy, had mustered on the frontier an army numbering in the 
aggregate nearly one hundred and fifty thousand men. These 
troops, in three divisions, with two thousand pieces of artillery, 
were to make a rush upon Saxony. Among the directions given 
by Frederick to the leaders of these divisions were the following : 

"Each regiment shall take but one baggage-cart for a com- 
pany. No officer, whoever he may be or whatever his title, shall 
take with him the least of silver plate, not even a silver spoon. 
Whoever wants to keep table, great or small, must manage the 
same with tin utensils, without exception, be he who he will." 

On the 25th of August, 1756, the king wrote from Potsdam to 
his brother, the Prince of Prussia, and his sister Amelia, who 
were at Berlin, as follows : 

" My dear Brother, my dear Sister, — I write you both at 
once for want of time. I have as yet received no answer from 
Vienna. I shall not get it till to-morrow. But I count myself 
surer of war than ever, as the Austrians have named their gen- 
erals, and their army is ordered to march to Koniggratz. So 
that, expecting nothing else but a haughty answer, or a very un- 
certain one, on which there will be no reliance possible, I have 
arranged every thing for setting out on Saturday next." 

Upon the ensuing day, having received the answer from Vi- 
enna, he wrote to his brother : 

"You have seen the paper I have sent to Vienna. Their an- 
swer is, that they have not made an offensive alliance with Rus- 
sia against me. Of the assurance that I required there is not 
one word, so that the sword alone can cut this Grordian knot. I 
am innocent of this war. I have done what I could to* avoid it ; 
but, whatever be one's love of peace, one can not, and one must 
not, sacrifice to that safety and honor. At present our one 
thought must be to wage war in such a way as may cure our en- 
emies of their wish to break peace again too soon." 

On Saturday morning, August 28, 1756, the Prussian army, 
over one hundred thousand strong, entered Saxony at three dif- 
ferent points on the northern frontier. Frederick, with about 
sixty thousand troops, crossed the Elbe at Torgau, and seized 
upon Leipsic. Duke Ferdinand, of Hanover, led his columns 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



405 




^mrrnhulh « 



^y^—\ ) lobau ' 

Pi 



' ,.--' -_^C ^Bru? -IdbositS ( 
-\» ^ '-— I XrclrJt' 



1 We^r ff XLlf^^f^l £iCff fP 



idtS¥~~ 

\qkeUba 




THE INVASION OF SAXONY. 



across the frontier about eighty miles to the right. The Duke of 
Brunswick-Bevern crossed about the same distance to the left. 
Each column was stronger than the whole Saxon army. The 
appointed place of rendezvous for the three divisions was the 
city of Dresden, the capital of Saxony. By the route marked 
out, each column had a distance of about one hundred and fifty 
miles to traverse. 

" Thus," writes Voltaire, " Frederick invaded Saxony under the 
pretense of friendship, and that he might make war upon Maria 
Theresa with the money of which he should rob the Saxons." 

Not a soldier appeared to oppose the invaders. The Prussians 
seized, in an unobstructed march, all the most important Saxon 
towns and fortresses. The King of Poland and his court, with 
less than twenty thousand troops, had fled from the capital up 
the river, which here runs from the south to Pirna, where they 
concentrated their feeble army, which numbered but eighteen 
thousand men. Frederick, with his resistless column, entered 
Dresden on the 9th of September. The queen had remained in 
the palace. The keys of the archives were demanded of her. 
She refused to surrender them. The officers proceeded to break 
open the door. The queen placed herself before the door. The 
officers, shrinking from using personal violence, sent to Frederick 
for instructions. He ordered them to force the archives, what- 
ever opposition the queen, in person, might present. The queen, 



406 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

to avoid a rude assault, withdrew. The door was forced, and 
the archives seized. 

"The king found, 7 ' writes Voltaire, "testimonies of the dread 
which he had occasioned. The queen died soon after of grief. 
All Europe pitied that unfortunate family. But in the course 
of those public calamities millions of families experienced hard- 
ships not less great, though more obscure."* 

Thus was commenced the Seven Years' War. It proved one 
of the most bloody and cruel strifes which man has ever waged 
against his brother man. Through its terrible scenes of confla- 
gration, blood, and despair, Frederick obtained the renown of be- 
; ing one of the ablest generals who ever marshaled armies upon 
\ fields of blood. 

His Polish majesty had placed his feeble band of troops in the 
vicinity of Pirna, on the Elbe, amidst the defiles of a mountain- 
ous country, where they could easily defend themselves against 
superior numbers. Winter was rapidly approaching. In those 
high latitudes and among those bleak hills the storms of winter 
ever raged with terrible severity. The Austrians were energet- 
ically accumulating their forces in Bohemia to act against the 
Prussians. The invasion of Saxony by Frederick, without any 
apparent provocation, roused all Europe to intensity of hatred 
and of action. 

His Prussian majesty carefully examined the position of the 
Saxons. They were in a region of precipices and chasms, broken 
into a labyrinth of sky-piercing and craggy rocks. The emi- 
nences, in some cases, rose two thousand feet, and were covered 
with pine forests. " There is no stronger position in the world," 
Frederick writes. All these passes were fortified, mile after 
mile, by batteries, ramparts, palisades, and abattis. But the 
Saxon troops, taken unawares, had but a srnall supply of provis- 
ions. Frederick decided to block every entrance to their en- 
campment, and thus to starve them out. His Polish majesty 
sent frantic cries to France and Austria for help. Frederick 
was assailed with the title of the " Prussian robber." 

The Dauphiness of France was daughter of the King of Po- 
land. With tears she craved protection for her parents. The 
Duchess of Pompadour was anxious to show her gratitude to 

* Age of Louis XV. , chapter xxxii. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



407 



Maria Theresa, who had condescended to address her as a " cous- 
in and a dear sister." A French army of one hundred thousand 
men was soon on the march to aid Austria in the liberation of 
Saxony. At the same time, an Austrian army of sixty thousand 
men, under Marshal Browne, was advancing rapidly from Bohe- 
mia to penetrate the fastnesses of the mountains for the release 
of the Polish king. 

On Friday, the 1st of October, 1756, the Prussian army under 
Frederick, leaving the Saxons besieged in their encampment, 
marched up the river to meet the foe advancing to the aid of 
the Saxons. They encountered the Austrians, under Marshal 
Browne, at Lobositz, about thirty miles south of Pirna. A ter- 
rible battle of seven hours' duration 
ensued. The opposing generals were 
of nearly equal ability. The soldiers 
were equal in courage. The carnage 
of the bloody conflict was almost 
equal on either side. The desperation 
of the Prussian assault was resistless. 
Bayonet often crossed bayonet. The 
Austrians were driven from their 
strong position into the city. The 
Prussians laid the city in ashes. As 
the Austrians fled from the blazing streets, many, endeavoring to 
swim across the Elbe, were drowned. At the close of this 
bloody strife General Browne withdrew his army to the rear, 
where he still presented a defiant front to the Prussians. He 
had lost from his ranks, in killed and wounded, two thousand 
nine hundred and eighty-four. The loss of Frederick was still 
greater; it numbered three thousand three hundred and eight. 
Neither party would confess to a defeat. 

" Never have my troops," writes Frederick, " done such mira- 
cles of valor, cavalry as well as infantry, since I had the honor 
to command them. By this dead-lift achievement I have seen 
what they can do." 

The Prussians remained at Lobositz nearly a fortnight, to see 
if Marshal Browne would again attempt to force the defiles. 
The Saxon troops, for whose relief the Austrians were advan- 
cing, were about thirty miles farther north, on the south, or left 




BATTLE OF LOBOSITZ, OCT. 1, 1756. 

a a. Prussian Infantry, b. Cavalry, c c. 
Artillery, d d. Austrian Army. 



408 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

bank of the Elbe. The news of the repulse of Marshal Browne 
at Lobositz fell disastrously upon their starving ranks. Maria 
Theresa was much distressed. She sent a messenger to her Aus- 
trian general to relieve the Saxons at whatever cost. A confi- 
dential messenger was dispatched through the mountains to the 
Saxon camp, which he reached in safety. He informed his Po- 
lish majesty that Marshal Browne, with a picked force of eight 
thousand, horse and foot, would march by a circuitous route of 
sixty miles, so as to approach Pirna from the northeast, where 
but a small Prussian force was stationed. He would be there 
without fail on the 11th of August. 

The Saxons were directed to cross the Elbe, by a sudden and 
unexpected march at Konigstein, a few miles from Pirna. Im- 
mediately upon effecting the passage of the river they were to 
fire two cannon as a signal that the feat was accomplished. The 
Saxon and Austrian troops were then to form a junction, and co- 
operate in crushing the few Prussian bands which were left there 
as a guard. The Saxon troops would thus be rescued from the 
trap in which they were inclosed, and from the famine which 
was devouring them. 

Marshal Browne skillfully and successfully performed his part 
of the adventure. But there was no efficient co-operation by the 
Saxons. The men were weak, emaciate, and perishing from hun- 
ger. Their sinews of exertion were paralyzed. The skeleton 
horses could not draw the wagons or the guns. To add to their 
embarrassment, a raging storm of wind and rain burst upon the 
camp. The roads were converted into quagmires. The night 
was pitch-dark as the Saxons, about fourteen thousand in num- 
ber, drenched with rain and groping through the mud, abandon- 
ed their camp and endeavored to steal their way across the river. 
The watchful Prussians detected the movement. A scene of 
confusion, terror, slaughter ensued, which it is in vain to endeav- 
or to describe. The weeping skies and moaning winds indicated 
nature's sympathy with these scenes of woe. Still the unhappy 
Saxons struggled on heroically. After seventy hours of toilsome 
marching and despairing conflict, these unhappy peasant-lads, the 
victims of kingly pride, were compelled to surrender at discre- 
tion. Marshal Browne, finding the enterprise an utter failure, 
rapidly returned to the main body of his army. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 409 

Frederick was much embarrassed in deciding what to do with 
his captives. They numbered about fourteen thousand. To 
guard and feed them was too troublesome and expensive. They 
could not be exchanged, as the King of Poland had no Prussian 
prisoners. To set them at liberty would speedily place them in 
the Austrian ranks to fight against him. Under these circum- 
stances, Frederick compelled them all to enlist as Prussian sol- 
diers. He compelled them to do this voluntarily, for they had 
their choice either to enlist under his banners or to starve. The 
King of Poland was permitted to return to Warsaw. The elec- 
torate of Saxony, nearly as large as the State of Massachusetts, 
and containing a population of one and a half millions, was an- 
nexed to Prussia. The captured soldiers, prisoners of war, were 
dressed in Prussian uniform, commanded by Prussian officers, and 
either placed in garrison or in the ranks of the army in the field. 
The public voice of Europe condemned Frederick very severely 
for so unprecedented an act. 

" Think of the sounds," writes Carlyle, " uttered from human 
windpipes, shrill with rage, some of them, hoarse others with 
ditto ; of the vituperations, execrations, printed and vocal — grat- 
ing harsh thunder upon Frederick and this new course of his. 
Huge melody of discords, shrieking, groaning, grinding on that 
topic through the afflicted universe in general." 

Voltaire embraced the opportunity of giving vent to his mal- 
ice in epigrams and lampoons. Frederick was by no means in- 
sensible to public opinion, but he was ever willing to brave 
that opinion if by so doing he could accomplish his ambitious 
ends. 

After this signal achievement his Prussian majesty establish- 
ed his army in winter quarters along the banks of the Elbe. 
He took up his abode in the palace of Dresden, awaiting the op- 
ening of the spring campaign. Saxony was held with a tight 
grasp, and taxes and recruits were gathered from the country as 
if it had always belonged to Prussia. Frederick had hoped that 
his sudden campaign would have led him into the heart of the 
Austrian states. Instead of this, though he had wrested Saxony 
from Poland, he had given Austria ample time to prepare her 
armies for a long war, and had roused all Europe to intense hos- 
tility against him. 



410 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

It became more and more manifest to Frederick that he must 
encounter a terrible conflict upon the opening of the spring. 
Early in January he took a short trip to Berlin, but soon return- 
ed to Dresden. Though he avoided all appearance of anxiety, 
and kept up a cheerful air, he was fully conscious of his peril. 
This is evident from the secret instructions he left with his min- 
ister, Count Finck, upon his departure from Berlin. The dis- 
patch was dated January 10th, 1757 : 

" Should it chance that my army in Saxony were beaten, or 
that the French should get possession of Hanover, and threaten 
us with invasion from that quarter, or that the Russians should 
get through by Neumark, you are to save the royal family and 
the archives. Should we be beaten in Saxony, remove the royal 
family to Custrin. Should the Russians enter by Neumark, or 
a misfortune befall us in the Lausitz, all must go to Magdeburg, 
but not till the last extremity. The garrison, the royal family, 
and the treasure must be kept together. In such a case, the sil- 
ver plate and the gold plate must at once be coined into money. 

"If I am killed, affairs must go on without alteration. If I 
should be taken prisoner, I forbid you from paying the least re- 
gard to my person, or paying the least heed to what I may write 
from my place of detention. Should such misfortune happen to 
me, I wish to sacrifice myself for the state. You must obey my 
brother. He, as well as all my ministers and generals, shall an- 
swer to me with their heads not to offer any province or ransom 
for me, but to continue the war, pushing their advances as if I 
had never existed in the world." 

Two days after committing this important document to Count 
Finck, Frederick took leave of his mother and his brother. His 
mother he never saw again. We have no evidence that on this 
visit he even called upon his irreproachable, amiable, neglected 
wife. In preparation for the worst, Frederick had provided poi- 
son for himself, and wore it constantly about his person. It 
consisted of several small pills in a glass tube. This fact is fully 
established. 

All Europe, England alone excepted, was aroused against him. 
Armies were every where being marshaled. The press of all 
continental Europe was filled with denunciations of his crimes 
and encroachments. Not all his efforts to assume a careless air 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 411 

could efface from his countenance the impression left there by 
the struggles of his soul. His features, as seen in a portrait 
painted about this time, are expressive of the character of an 
anxious and unhappy man. 

Early in the spring of 1757, France, Russia, Austria, Poland, 
and Sweden were combined against Frederick. These countries 
represented a population of one hundred millions. Frederick's 
domains contained but five millions. His annual revenue was 
but about ten million dollars. He had an army in the field of 
one hundred and fifty thousand of the best troops in the world. 
His fortresses were garrisoned by about fifty thousand of inferi- 
or quality. The armies of the allies numbered four hundred and 
thirty thousand. Frederick was regarded as an outlaw. The 
design of the allies was to crush him, and to divide his territory 
between them. Austria was to retake Silesia. France was to 
have the Wesel-Cleve country. Russia was to annex to her do- 
mains Prussen, Konigsberg, etc. Poland, having regained Sax- 
ony, was to add to her territory Magdeburg and Halle. Sweden 
was to have Pomerania. Never before had there appeared such 
a combination against any man. The situation of Frederick 
seemed desperate. 

France was first in the field with a superb host of one hun- 
dred and ten thousand men. The other powers speedily fol- 
lowed. In four great armies of invasion these hosts pressed upon 
Prussia from the southeast and southwest, the northeast and 
northwest. The Russian battalions were one hundred thousand 
strong. The Austrian army was still more formidable. 

It was supposed, that Frederick would remain in Saxony on 
the defensive against the Austrians, who were rapidly gathering 
their army at Prague, in Bohemia. The city was situated upon 
the River Moldau, one of the tributaries of the Elbe, and was 
about sixty miles south of Dresden. 

On the 20th of April, Frederick, having secretly placed his 
army in the best possible condition, commenced a rapid march 
upon Prague, thus plunging into the very heart of Bohemia. He 
advanced in three great columns up the valley of the Elbe and 
the Moldau. His movements were so rapid and unexpected that 
he seized several Austrian magazines which they had not even 
time to burn. Three months' provisions were thus obtained for 



412 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



his whole array. The first column, under the king, was sixty 
thousand strong. The second column, led by General Bevern, 
numbered twenty -three thousand, horse and foot. The third, 
under Marshal Schwerin, counted thirty-two thousand foot and 
twelve thousand horse. On the 2d of May the banners of Fred- 
erick were seen from the steeples of Prague. They appeared 
floating from the heights of the Weissenberg, a few miles west of 
the city. At the same time, the other two columns, which had 
united under Marshal Schwerin, appeared on the east side of the 
Moldau, upon both banks of which the city is built. 

On the 5th of May, after careful reconnoissance, Frederick 
crossed the Moldau several miles north of Prague. He went 
over upon pontoons unopposed, and thus effected a junction with 
his troops on the east side of the river. The Austrian army was 
drawn up on some formidable heights but a short distance east 
of the city. Their position was very strong, and they were thor- 
oughly intrenched. On the 6th of May the dreadful battle of 
Prague was fought. For many years, as not a few of our readers 








THE BATTLE OE PRAGUE, MAY b, 1757. 

a a a. First position of Austrian Army. bbb. Second position to meet tlie Prussian Attack, c. Prussians 
under Keith, dd. First position of Prussian Army. ee. Second position of Prussian Army. f. Schwerin 1 s 
Prussians. <j. Prussian Horse, h. Mannstein's Attack, i. Place of Schwerin 's Monument 

will remember, it was fought over and over again upon all the 
pianos in Christendom. They will remember the awe with which, 
as children, they listened to the tumult of the battle, swelling 
forth from the ivory keys, with the rattle of musketry, the boom- 
ing of the cannon, and the groans of the dying — such groans as 
even the field of battle itself could scarcely have rivaled. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 413 

The final and decisive struggle took place on and around two 
important eminences, called the Sterbohol Hill and the Homoly 
Hill. Both of these heights the Prussians stormed. In the fol- 
lowing glowing words Carlyle pictures the scene : 

"Fearful tugging, swagging, and swaying is conceivable in 
this Sterbohol problem ! And, after long scanning, I rather 
judge that it was in the wake of that first repulse that the vet- 
eran Schwerin himself got his death. No one times it for us ; 
but the fact is unforgetable ; and in the dim whirl of sequences 
dimly places itself there. Very certain it is ' at sight of his own 
regiment in retreat,' Field-marshal Schwerin seized the colors, as 
did other generals, who are not named, that day. Seizes the 
colors, fiery old man : i This way, my sons !' and rides ahead along 
the straight dam again ; his ' sons' all turning, and with hot re- 
pentance following. ' On, my children, this way !' Five bits of 
grape-shot, deadly each of them, at once hit the old man ; dead 
he sinks there on his flag; and will never fight more. 

" ' This way !' storm the others with hot tears ; Adjutant Von 
Platen takes the flag : Platen too is instantly shot ; but another 
takes it. 'This way, on !' in wild storm of rage and grief; in a 
word, they managed to do the work at Sterbohol, they and the 
rest. First line, second line, infantry, cavalry (and even the very 
horses, I suppose), fighting inexpressibly ; conquering one of the 
worst problems ever seen in war. For the Austrians too, espe- 
cially their grenadiers there, stood to it toughly, and fought like 
men ; and ' every grenadier that survived of them,' as I read aft- 
erward, ' got double pay for life.' 

" Done, that Sterbohol work ; those foot-chargings, horse-charg- 
ings ; that battery of Homoly Hill ; and, hanging upon that, all 
manner of redoubts and batteries to the rightward and rearward ; 
but how it was- done no pen can describe, nor any intellect in 
• clear sequence understand. An enormous melee there : new Prus- 
sian battalions charging, and ever new, irrepressible by case-shot, 
as they successively get up ; Marshal Browne, too, sending for 
new battalions at double-quick from his left, disputing stiffly 
every inch of his ground, till at length (hour not given), a can- 
non shot tore away his foot, and he had to be carried into 
Prague, mortally wounded. Which probably was a most im- 
portant circumstance, or the most important of all." 



414 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

"This battle," writes Frederick, " which began toward nine in 
the morning, was one of the bloodiest of the age. The enemy 
lost twenty -four thousand men, of w T hom four thousand were 
prisoners. The Prussian loss amounted to eighteen thousand 
fighting men, without counting Marshal Schwerin, who was alone 
worth above ten thousand. This day saw the pillars of the 
Prussian infantry cut down." 

Immediately after the battle, Frederick wrote rather a stately 
letter to his mother, informing her of his victory, and that he was 
about to pursue the foe with a hundred and fifty thousand men. 
Fifty thousand of the defeated Austrians entered Prague, and 
stood at bay behind its ramparts. Frederick seized all the av- 
enues, that no provisions could enter the city, convinced that 
starvation, combined with a vigorous assault, would soon compel 
the garrison to surrender themselves, the city, and all its maga- 
zines. On the 9th of May the bombardment with red-hot balls 
commenced. The siege lasted six weeks, creating an amount of 
misery over which angels might weep. The balls of fire were 
constantly kindling wide and wasting conflagrations. Soon a 
large portion of the city presented only a heap of smouldering 
ruins. 

Besides the garrison of fifty thousand there were eighty thou- 
sand inhabitants in the city, men, women, and children. Large 
numbers perished. Some died of starvation ; some were burned 
to death in their blazing dwellings ; some were torn to pieces by 
shot and shell ; some were buried beneath the ruins of their 
houses. In the stillness of the night the wails and groans of the 
sufferers were borne on the breeze to the ears of the Prussians 
in their intrenched camp. Starvation brought pestilence, which 
caused the death of thousands. The inhabitants, reduced to this 
state of awful misery, entreated the Austrian general to surren- 
der. He refused, but forced out of the gates twelve thousand 
skeleton, starving people, who consumed the provisions, but could 
not contribute to the defense. Frederick drove the poor creat- 
ures back again at the point of the bayonet, threatening to shoot 
them all. The cruel act was deemed a necessity of war. 

Maria Theresa, anxious to save Prague, sent an army of sixty 
thousand men under General Daun to its relief. This army, on 
the rapid march, had reached Kolin, about fifty miles east of 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 415 

Prague. Should General Daun, as was his plan, attack Freder- 
ick in the rear, while the fifty thousand in Prague should sally 
out and attack him in front, ruin would be almost inevitable. 
Frederick, gathering thirty-four thousand men, marched rapidly 
to Kolin and attacked the foe with the utmost possible fierce- 
ness. The Austrians not only nearly twice outnumbered him, 
but were also in a very commanding position, protected by earth- 
works. Never did men fight more reckless of life than did the 
Prussians upon this occasion. 

" And so from right wing to left," writes Carlyle, " miles long 
there is now universal storm of volleying, bayonet charging, 
thunder of artillery, case-shot, cartridge-shot, and sulphurous de- 
vouring whirlwind ; the wrestle very tough and furious, espe- 
cially on the assaulting side. Here, as at Prague, the Prussian 
troops were one and all in the fire, each doing strenuously his 
utmost. There is no reserve left. All is gone up into one com- 
bustion. To fan the fire, to be here, there, fanning the fire where 
need shows, this is now Frederick's function. This death-wrestle 
lasted, perhaps, four hours ; till seven, or perhaps eight o'clock, 
of a June evening." 

Frederick exposed himself like a common soldier. Indeed, it 
sometimes seems that, in the desperate state of his affairs, he 
sought the fatal bullet. All his efforts against the Austrians 
were in vain. The Prussians were repulsed with dreadful 
slaughter. After losing fourteen thousand men in killed, wound- 
ed, and prisoners, forty-five cannon, and twenty-two flags, Freder- 
ick was compelled to order a retreat. His magnificent regiment 
of guards, one thousand in number, picked men, undoubtedly the 
best body of troops in the world, was almost annihilated. The 
loss of the Austrians was about nine thousand men. They were 
so accustomed to be defeated by Frederick that they were equal- 
ly surprised and delighted by this dearly-earned victory. The 
following plan will give the military reader an idea of the posi- 
tion of the hostile forces. 

Still the conquerors had such dread of their foe that they 
dared not emerge from their ramparts to pursue him. Had they 
done so, they might easily have captured or slain his whole army. 
Frederick bore adversity with great apparent equanimity. He 
did not for a moment lose self-control, or manifest any agitation. 



416 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



With great skill he conducted his retreat. Immediately after 
the battle he wrote to his friend Lord Marischall : 




BATTLE OF KOLIN, JUNE 18, 1757. 

a a. Austrian Army, b b. Prussian Army. c. Ziethen , s Hussars, d. Nadasti's 



i. e. The Oak Wood. 



" Prosperity, my dear lord, often inspires a dangerous confi- 
dence. Twenty-three battalions were not sufficient to drive 
sixty thousand men from their intrench rnents. Another time 
we will take our precautions better. Fortune has this day turn- 
ed her back upon me. I ought to have expected it. She is a 
female, and I am not gallant. What say you to this league 
against the Margrave of Brandenburg ? How great would be 
the astonishment of the great elector if he could see his great- 
grandson at war at the same time with the Russians, the Aus- 
trians, almost all Germany, and one hundred thousand French 
auxiliaries ! I do not know whether it will be disgraceful in 
me to be overcome, but I am sure there will be no great glory in 
vanquishing me."* 

Frederick retreated down the banks of the Elbe, and sent 
couriers to the camp at Prague, ordering the siege immediately 
to be raised, and the troops to retire down the Moldau to join 
him at Leitmeritz. The news was received at the camp at two 
o'clock on Sunday morning, June 19, creating amazement and 
consternation. As Frederick was on his retreat with his broken 
battalions from the field of battle, parched with thirst, burning 
with heat, and smothered with dust, it is recorded that an old 
dragoon brought to the king, in his steel cap, some water which 
he had drawn from a well, saying to his sovereign, consolingly, 

" Never mind, sire, God Almighty and we will mend this yet. 

* Archenholtz, Histoire de la Guerre de cet Homme. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



417 



The enemy may get a victory for once, but that does not send 
us to the devil." 

At Nimburg, about twenty miles from Kolin, where the retir- 
ing Prussians were crossing the Elbe, Frederick sat upon a green 
mound, lost in thought, as his troops defiled before him. He 
was scratching figures upon the sand with his stick. 




AFTER THE DEFEAT. 



"Raising his eyes," says Archenholtz, "he surveyed, with 
speechless emotion, the small remnant of his life-guard of foot, 
his favorite battalion. It was one thousand strong yesterday 
morning, hardly four hundred now. All the soldiers of this 
chosen battalion were personally known to him — their names, 
their age, their native place, their history. In one day death 
had mowed them down. They had fought like heroes, and it 

Dd 



418 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

was for him they had died. His eyes were visibly wet. Down 
his face rolled silent tears." 

Suddenly dashing the tears away, he issued his swift orders, 
and, mounting his horse, galloped to Prague, where he arrived 
Sunday evening. The next day the siege was raised, and the 
besieging troops were on the retreat north into Saxony. The 
whole army was soon rendezvoused at Leitmeritz, on the Elbe, 
about thirty miles south of Dresden. Here Frederick awaited 
the development of the next movement of his foes. 

He had hardly arrived at Leitmeritz ere he received the tid- 
ings of the death of Sophia Dorothea, his mother. She died at 
Berlin on the 28th of June, 1757, in the seventy-first year of her 
age. This grief, coming in the train of disasters which seemed 
to be overwhelming his Prussian majesty, affected him very deep- 
ly. Frederick was subdued and softened by sorrow. He re- 
membered the time when a mother's love rocked his cradle, and 
wrapped him around with tender care. The reader will be sur- 
prised to learn that his grief — perhaps with some comminglings 
of remorse — was so great that he shut himself in his closet, and 
wept with sobbings like a child. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



DEFEATS AND PERILS. 



Grief of the King over his Mother's Death. — Interesting Letters. — Eorces in the Field. — The 
March upon Dresden. — Devotion ofWilhelmina. — Atheism of the King. — Wilhelmina to Vol- 
taire. — Despair of Frederick. — Great Victory of Rossbach. — Description of the Battle. — Utter 
Rout of the Allies. — Elation of Frederick. — His Poem on the Occasion. — Ravages of War. 

The tidings of the death of the king's mother reached him on 
the 2d of July, 1757. Sir Andrew Mitchell, the English embas- 
sador in Berlin, gives the following account of an interview he 
had with Frederick on that occasion : 

"Yesterday, July 3d, the king sent for me, in the afternoon, 
the first time he has seen any body since the news came. I had 
the honor to remain with him in his closet. I must own I was 
most sensibly affected to see him indulging his grief, and giving 
way to the warmest filial affections ; recalling to mind the many 
obligations he had to her late majesty; all she had suffered, and 
how nobly she had borne it ; the good she did to every body ; 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



419 



ssmm 




SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 



the one comfort he now had, that he tried to make her last years 
more agreeable." 

On the 1st of July, the day before the king heard of his moth- 
er's death, he wrote to Wilhelmina, in reply to a letter from her 
which expressed great anxiety on his account : 

" Dear sister, fear nothing on my score. Men are always in 
the hand of what we call destiny. Accidents will befall people 
walking on the streets, sitting in their room, lying on their bed ; 
and there are many who escape the perils of war." 

Again, on the 5th of July, he wrote : " I write to apprise you, 
"my dear sister, of the new grief that overwhelms us. We have 
no longer a mother. This loss puts the crown on my sorrows. 
I am obliged to act, and have not time to give free course to my 
tears. Judge, I pray you, of the situation of a feeling heart put 
to so severe a trial. All losses in the world are capable of being 
remedied, but those which death causes are beyond the reach of 
hope." 

On the 7th of July he wrote again to Wilhelmina. The let- 



420 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ter reveals the anxiety of his heart, and his earnest desire to es- 
cape, if possible, from his embarrassments. Wilhelmina had writ- 
ten, offering her services to endeavor to secure peace. The king 
replied : 

"You are too good. I am ashamed to abuse your indulgence. 
But do, since you are willing, try and sound the French, and learn 
w^hat conditions of peace they would demand. Send that Mira- 
beau* to France. Willingly will I pay the expense. He may 
offer as much as five million thalers [$3,750,000] to the Favor- 
itef for peace alone." 

Soon after this, Frederick again wrote to his sister a letter 
which throws so much light upon his character that we give it 
almost entire : 

" Leitmeritz, July 13, 1757. 

"My dear Sister, — Your letter has arrived. I see in it your 
regrets for the irreparable loss we have had of the best and 
worthiest mother in this world. I am so overwhelmed by these 
blows from within and without that I feel myself in a sort of 
stupefaction. 

"The French have seized upon Friesland, and are about to 
pass the Weser. They have instigated the Swedes to declare 
war against me. The Swedes are sending seventeen thousand 
men into Pomerania. The Russians are besieging Memel. Gen- 
eral Schwald has them on his front and in his rear. The troops 
of the empire are also about to march. All this will force me to 
evacuate Bohemia so soon as that crowd of enemies gets into 
motion. 

" I am firmly resolved on the utmost efforts to save my coun- 
try. Happy the moment when I took to training myself in phi- 
losophy. There is nothing else that can sustain a soul in a situ- 
ation like mine. I spread out to you, my dear sister, the detail 
of my sorrows. If these things regarded myself only, I could 
stand it with composure. But I am the bound guardian of the 
happiness of a people which has been put under my charge. 
There lies the sting of it. And I shall have to reproach myself 
with every fault if, by delay or by overhaste, I occasion the 
smallest accident. 

"I am in the condition of a traveler who sees himself surround-' 

* An uncle of the great Mirabeau. t The Duchess of Pompadour. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 421 

ed and ready to be assassinated "by a troop of cut-throats, who 
intend to share his spoils. Since the league of Cainbrai* there 
is no example of such a conspiracy as that infamous triumvirate, 
Austria, France, Russia, now forms against me. Was it ever be- 
fore seen that three great princes laid plot in concert to destroy 
a fourth who had done nothing against them ? I have not had 
the least quarrel either with France or with Russia, still less 
with Sweden. 

" Happy, my dear sister, is the obscure man whose good sense, 
from youth upward, has renounced all sorts of glory ; who, in his 
safe and humble place, has none to envy him, and whose fortune 
does not excite the cupidity of scoundrels. But these reflections 
are vain. We have to be what our birth, which decides, has 
made us in entering upon this world. 

" I beg a thousand pardons, my dear sister. In these three 
long pages I talk to you of nothing but my troubles and affairs. 
A strange abuse it would be of any other person's friendship. 
But yours, my dear sister, is known to me ; and I am persuaded 
that you are not impatient when I open to you my heart — a 
heart which is yours altogether, being filled with sentiments of 
the tenderest esteem, with which I am, my dearest sister, your 

" Frederick." 

At this time the whole disposable force of his Prussian maj- 
esty did not exceed eighty thousand men. There were march- 
ing against him combined armies of not less, in the aggregate, 
than four hundred thousand. A part of the Prussian army, 
about thirty thousand strong, under the king's eldest brother, 
Augustus William, Prince of Prussia, was sent north, especial- 
ly to protect Zittau, a very fine town of about ten thousand in- 
habitants, where- Frederick had gathered his chief magazines. 
' Prince Charles, with seventy thousand Austrians, pursued this 
division. He outgeneraled the Prince of Prussia, drove him into 
wild country roads, took many prisoners, captured important 
fortresses, and, opening a fire of red-hot shot upon Zittau, laid 
the whole place, with its magazines, in ashes. The Prince of 

* In the years 1508-1509 the celebrated league of Cambrai was formed by Louis XII. of 
France, Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, Ferdinand, King of Spain, and Pope Julius II., 
against- Venice. The league was called Holy because the pope took part in it. 



422 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Prussia, who witnessed the conflagration which he could not pre- 
vent, retreated precipitately toward Lobau, and thence to Baut- 
zen, with his army in a deplorable condition of exhaustion and 
destitution. 

Here Frederick, with the remainder of the army from Leit- 
meritz, joined his brother, against whom he was greatly incensed, 
attributing the disasters he had encountered to his incapacity. 
At four o'clock of the 30th of July the king met the Prince of 
Prussia and the other generals of the discomfited army. Both 
parties approached the designated spot on horseback. The king, 
who was accompanied by his suite, upon his arrival within about 
two hundred feet of the place where his brother, with his officers, 
was awaiting him, without saluting the prince or recognizing 
him in the slightest degree, dismounted, and threw himself in a 
reclining posture upon the greensward. General Goltz was then 
sent with the following message to the prince : 

"His majesty commands me to inform your royal highness that 
he has cause to be greatly discontented with you; that you de- 
serve to have a court-martial held over you, which would sen- 
tence you and all your generals to death ; but that his majesty 
will not carry the matter so far, being unable to forget that in 
the chief general he has a brother." 

Augustus William, overwhelmed by his disgrace, and yet an- 
gered by the rebuke, coldly replied that he desired only that a 
court-martial should investigate the case and pronounce judg- 
ment. The king forbade that any intercourse whatever should 
take place between his own troops, soldiers, or officers, and those 
of his brother, who, he declared, had utterly degraded themselves 
by the loss of all courage and ambition. The prince sent to the 
king General Schultz to obtain the countersign for the army. 
Frederick refused to receive him, saying " that he had no counter- 
sign to send to cowards." Augustus William then went him- 
selt to present his official report and a list of, his troops. Fred- 
erick took the papers without saying a word, and then turned 
his back upon his brother. This cruel treatment fell with crush- 
ing force upon the unhappy prince. Conscious of military fail- 
ure, disgraced in the eyes of his generals and soldiers, and aban- 
doned by the king, his health and spirits alike failed him. The 
next morning he wrote a sad, respectfully reproachful letter to 



EREDERICK THE GREAT. 423 

Frederick, stating that his health rendered it necessary for him 
to retire for a season from the army to recruit. The reply of the 
king, which was dated Bautzen, July 30,1757, shows how des- 
perate he, at that time, considered the state of his affairs. Hope- 
less of victory, he seems to have sought only death. 

" My dear Brother,— Your bad conduct has greatly injured 
my affairs. It is not the enemy, but your ill-concerted measures, 
which have done me this harm. My generals also are inexcus- 
able, whether they gave you bad advice or only suffered you to 
come 'to such injudicious resolutions. In this sad situation it 
only remains for me to make a last attempt. I must hazard a 
battle. If we can not conquer, we must all of us have ourselves 
killed. 

" I do not complain of your heart, but of your incapacity, and 
of the little judgment you have shown in making your decisions. 
A man who has but a few days to live need not dissemble. I 
wish you better fortune than mine has been, and that all the 
miseries and bad adventures you have had may teach you to 
treat important matters with greater care, sense, and resolution 
than you have hitherto done. The greatest part of the calami- 
ties which I now apprehend comes only from you. You and 
your children will suffer more from them than I shall. Be per- 
suaded, nevertheless, that I have always loved you, and that with 
these sentiments I shall die. Frederick." 

Upon the reception of this letter, the prince, without replying 
to it, verbally asked leave, through one of his officers, to throw 
up his commission and retire to his family in Berlin. The king 
scornfully replied, " Let him go ; he is fit for nothing else." In 
the deepest dejection the prince returned to his home. Rapidly 
-his health failed, and before the year had passed away, as we 
shall have occasion hereafter to mention, he sank into the grave, 
deploring his unhappy lot. 

Frederick speedily concentrated all his strength at Bautzen, 
and strove to draw the Austrians into a battle ; but in vain. ' 
The heights upon which they were intrenched, bristling with 
cannon, he could not venture to assail. After three weeks of 
impatient manoeuvring, Frederick gathered his force of fifty thou- 



424 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

sand men close in hand, and made a sudden rush upon Bernstadt, 
about fifty miles to the east of Bautzen. Here he surprised an 
Austrian division, scattered it to the winds, seized all its bag- 
gage, and took a number of prisoners. He also captured the 
field equipage, coach, horses, etc., of General Nadasti, who nar- 
rowly escaped. 

The French, advancing from the Bhine on the west, were 
sweeping all opposition before them. They had overrun Han- 
over, and compelled the Duke of Brunswick, brother of George II., 
to withdraw, with his Hanoverian troops, from the alliance with 
the King of Prussia. This was a terrible blow to Frederick. 
It left him entirely alone to encounter his swarming enemies. 

The Prince of Soubise had rendezvoused fifty thousand French 
and Saxon troops at Erfurt, about a hundred and seventy miles 
west of Dresden. He had also, scattered around at different 
posts, easily accessible, a hundred thousand more well-armed and 
well-disciplined troops. Frederick took twenty-three thousand 
men and marched to assail these foes in almost despairing battle. 
To plunge with so feeble a band into such a mass of enemies 
seemed to be the extreme of recklessness. 

On the 30th of August Frederick commenced his march from 
Dresden. Great caution was requisite, and great military skill, 
in so bold an adventure. On the 13th of September he reached 
Erfurt. The Prince of Soubise, aware of the prowess of his an- 
tagonist, retired to the hills and intrenched himself, waiting un- 
til he could accumulate forces which would render victory cer- 
tain. Frederick had now with him his second brother, Henry, 
who seems to have very fully secured his confidence. On the 
16th of September the king wrote : 

" My brother Henry has gone to see the Duchess of €rotha to- 
day. I am so oppressed with grief that I would rather keep my 
sadness to myself. I have reason to congratulate myself much 
on account of my brother Ftenry. He has behaved like an an- 
gel, as a soldier, and well toward me as a brother. I can not, 
unfortunately, say the same of the elder. He sulks at me, and 
has sulkily retired to Torgau, from which place he has gone to 
Wittenberg. I shall leave him to his caprices and to his bad 
conduct ; and I prophesy nothing for the future unless the 
younger guide him." 



FKEDEKICK THE GREAT. 425 

In these hours of trouble the noble Wilhelmina was as true 
to her brother as the magnet to the pole. She was appalled by 
no dangers, and roused all her energies to aid that brother, strug- 
gling, with the world arrayed against him. The king apprecia- 
ted his sister's love. In a poetic epistle addressed to her, com- 
posed in these hours of adversity, he wrote : 

" Oh sweet and dear hope of my remaining* days ! oh sister 
whose friendship, so fertile in resources, shares all my sorrows, 
and with a helpful arm assists me in the gulf! it is in vain 
that the destinies have overwhelmed me with disasters. If the 
crowd of kings have sworn my ruin, if the earth have opened to 
swallow me, you still love me, noble and affectionate sister. 
Loved by you, what is there of misfortune?" 

In conclusion, he gives utterance to that gloomy creed of infi- 
delity and atheism which he had adopted instead of the Chris- 
tian faith. " Thus destiny with a deluge of torments fills the 
poisoned remnants of my days. The present is hideous to me, 
the future unknown. Do you say that I am the creature of a 
beneficent being? I see that all men are the sport of destiny. 
And if there do exist some gloomy and inexorable being who 
allows a despised herd of creatures to go on multiplying here, 
he values them as nothing. He looks down on our virtues, our 
misdeeds, on the horrors of war, and on all the cruel plagues 
which ravage earth, as a thing indifferent to him. Wherefore my 
sole refuge and only haven, loved sister, is in the arms of death."* 

Twenty years before this, Frederick, in a letter to his friend 
Baron. Suhm, dated June 6, 1736, had expressed the belief that, 
while the majority of the world perished at death, a few very 
distinguished men might be immortal. 

" The thought alone," he wrote, " of your death, my dear Suhm, 
affords me an argument in proof of the immortality of the soul. 
■ For is it possible that the spirit which acts in you with so much 
clearness, brightness, and intelligence, which is so different from 
matter and from body — that fine soul endowed with so many 
solid virtues and agreeable qualities — is it possible that this 
should not be immortal ? No ! I would maintain in solid argu- 
ment that, if the greatest part of the world were to be annihi- 

* " Ainsi mon seul asile en rnon unique port 

Se trouve, chere soeur, dans les bras de la mort." 



426 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

lated, you, Voltaire, Boileau, Newton, Wolfius, and some other 
geniuses of this order must be immortal."* 

Now, however, Frederick, in that downward path through 
which the rejecters of Christianity invariably descend, had reach, 
ed the point at which he renounced all belief in the immortality 
of the soul and in the existence of God. In a poetic epistle ad- 
dressed to Marshal Keith, he declares himself a materialist, and 
affirms his unwavering conviction that the soul, which he says 
is but the result of the bodily organization, perishes with that 
body. He declares suicide to be the only remedy for man in his 
hour of extremity. 

Wilhelmina, in her distress in view of the peril of her broth- 
er, wrote to Voltaire, hoping that he might be persuaded to ex- 
ert an influence in his favor. 

" The king, my brother," she wrote, " supports his misfortunes 
with a courage and a firmness worthy of him. I am in a fright- 
ful state, and will not survive the destruction of my house and 
family. That is the one consolation that remains to me. I can 
not write farther of it. My soul is so troubled that I know not 
what I am doing. To me there remains nothing but to follow 
his destiny if it is unfortunate. I have never piqued myself on 
being a philosopher, though I have made many efforts to become 
so. The small progress I made did teach me to despise grandeur 
and riches. But I could never find in philosophy any cure for 
the wounds of the heart, except that of getting done with our mis- 
eries by ceasing to live. The state I am in is worse than death. 
I see the greatest man of his age, my brother, my friend, reduced 
to the most frightful extremity. I see my w^hole family exposed 
to dangers and, perhaps, destruction. Would to Heaven I were 
alone loaded with all the miseries I have described to you." 

Five days after this letter was written to Voltaire by Wilhel- 
mina from Baireuth, Frederick, on the 17th of September, 1757, 
wrote his sister from near Erfurt. This letter, somewhat abbre- 
viated, was as follows : 

"My dearest Sister, — I find no other consolation but in your 
precious letters. May Heavenf reward so much virtue and such 

* Correspondance Familiere et Amicale, tome i., p. 31. 

t " Heaven !" This was probably a slip of the pen. Frederick would have been perplexed 
to explain who or what he meant by " Heaven." It would, however, subsequently appear that 
he used the word as synonymous with fate or destiny. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 427 

heroic sentiments ! Since I wrote you last my misfortunes have 
but gone on accumulating. It seems as though destiny would 
discharge all its wrath and fury upon the poor country which I 
had to rule over. I have advanced this way to fall upon a corps 
of the allied army, which has run off and intrenched itself among 
hills, whither to follow, still more to attack them, all rules of war 
forbid. The moment I retire toward Saxony this whole swarm 
will be upon my heels. Happen what may, I am determined, 
at all risks, to fall upon whatever corps of the enemy approaches 
me nearest. I shall even bless Heaven for its mercy if it grant 
me the favor to die sword in hand. 

" Should this hope fail me, you will allow that it would be 
too hard to crawl at the feet of a company of traitors to whom 
successful crimes have given the advantage to prescribe the law 
to me. If I had followed my own inclinations I should have 
put an end to myself at once after that unfortunate battle which 
I lost. But I felt that this would be weakness, and that it be- 
hooved me to repair the evil which had happened. But no 
sooner had I hastened this way to face new enemies than Win- 
terfield was beaten and killed near Gorlitz ; than the French en- 
tered the heart of my states ; than the Swedes blockaded Stet- 
tin. Now there is nothing effective left for me to do. There 
are too many enemies. Were I even to succeed in beating two 
armies, the third would crush me. As for you, my incomparable 
sister, I have not the heart to turn you from your resolves. We 
think alike, and I can not condemn in you the sentiments which 
I daily entertain. Life has been given us as a benefit. When 
it ceases to be such— I have nobody left in this world to at- 
tach me to it but you. My friends, the relations I loved most, 
are in the grave. In short, I have lost every thing. If you take 
the resolution which I have taken, we end together our misfor- 
* tunes and our unhappiness. 

" But it is time to end this long, dreary letter. I have had 
some leisure, and have used it to open to you a heart filled with 
admiration and gratitude toward you. Yes, my adorable sister, 
if Providence troubled itself about human affairs, you ought to 
be the happiest person in the universe. Your not being such 
confirms me in the sentiments expressed in my epistle." 

In his " epistle" Frederick had expressed the opinion that 



428 FEEDERICK THE GREAT. 

there was no God who took any interest in human affairs. He 
had also repeatedly expressed the resolve to Wilhelmina, and to 
Voltaire, to whom he had become partially reconciled, that he 
was prepared to commit suicide should events prove as disas- 
trous as he had every reason to expect they would prove. He 
had also urged his sister to follow his example, and not to sur- 
vive the ruin of the family. Such was the support which the 
king, in hours of adversity, found in that philosophy for which 
he had discarded the religion of Jesus Christ. 

On the 15th of September, two days before Frederick had 
written the despairing letter we have just given, Wilhelmina 
wrote again to him, in response to previous letters, and to his 
poetic epistle. 

" My dearest Brother, — Your letter and the one you wrote 
to Voltaire have nearly killed me. What fatal resolutions, great 
God ! Ah ! my dear brother, you say you love me, and you drive 
a dagger into my heart. Your epistle, which I did receive, made 
me shed rivers of tears. I am now ashamed of such weakness. 
My misfortune would be so great that I should find worthier re-- 
sources than tears. Your lot shall be mine. I shall not survive 
your misfortunes, or those of the house I belong to. You may 
calculate that such is my firm resolution. 

" But, after this avowal, allow me to entreat you to look back 
at what was the pitiable state of your enemy when you lay be- 
fore Prague. It is the sudden whirl of fortune for both parties. 
The like can occur again when one is the least expecting it. 
Caesar was the slave of pirates, and yet he became master of the 
world. A great genius like yours finds resources even when all 
is lost. 

" I suffer a thousand times more than I can tell you. Never- 
theless, hope does not abandon me. I am obliged to finish. 
But I shall never cease to be, with the most profound respect^ 
your Wilhelmina." 

On the 11th of October an express courier reached Frederick's 
camp with the alarming intelligence that an Austrian division 
of fifteen thousand men was on the march for Berlin. The city 
was but poorly fortified, and held a garrison of but four thou- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 429 

sand troops. Frederick had no doubt that the Austrian army 
was acting in co-operation with other forces of the allies, advan- 
cing upon his metropolis from the east, north, and west. Imme- 
diately he collected all his available troops and commenced a 
rapid march for the protection of his capital. In the mean time 
Wilhelmina had heard of this new peril. A rumor also had 
reached her that there had been a battle, and that her brother 
was wounded. The following letter reveals the anguish of her 
heart : 

"Baireuth, October 15, 1757. 

"My dearest Brother, — Death and a thousand torments 
could not equal the frightful state I am in. There run reports 
that make me shudder. Some say that you are wounded, others 
that you are dangerously ill. In vain have I tormented myself 
to have news of you. I can get none. Oh, my dear brother, 
come what may, I will not survive you. If I am to continue in 
this frightful uncertainty, I can not stand it. In the name of 
God, bid some one write to me. 

" I know not what I have written. My heart is torn in pieces. 
I feel that by dint of disquietude and alarms I am losing my 
senses. Oh, my dear, adorable brother, have pity on me. The 
least thing that concerns you pierces me to the heart. Might I 
die a thousand deaths provided you lived and were happy ! I 
can say no more. Grief chokes me. I can only repeat that 
your fate shall be mine ; being, my dear brother, your 



It turned out that the rumor of the march upon Berlin was 
greatly exaggerated. General Haddick, with an Austrian force 
of but four thousand men, by a sudden rush through the woods, 
seized the suburbs of Berlin. The terrified garrison, supposing 
that an overwhelming force of the allied army was upon them, 
retreated, with the royal family and effects, to Spandau. Gen- 
eral Haddick, having extorted a ransom of about one hundred 
and forty thousand dollars from the city, and " two dozen pair of 
gloves for the empress queen," and learning that a division of 
Frederick's army was fast approaching, fled precipitately. Hear- 
ing of this result, the king arrested his steps at Torgau, and re- 
turned to Leipsic. The Berliners asserted that " the two dozen 
pair of gloves were all gloves for the left hand." 



430 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



Frederick reached Leipsic on the 26th of October. The allied 
forces were rapidly concentrating in overwhelming numbers 
around him. On the 30th the king marched to the vicinity of 
Lutzen, where he encamped for the night. General Soubise, 
though in command of a force outnumbering that of the Prus- 
sians nearly three to one, retreated rapidly to the west before 
Frederick, and crossed the River Saale. Frederick followed, and 
effected the passage of the stream with but little opposition. 




MAP OF THE CAMPAIGN OP ROSSBACH. 



After some manoeuvring, the hostile forces met upon a wide, 
dreary, undulating plain, with here and there a hillock, in the 
vicinity of Rossbach. Frederick had twenty thousand men. The 
French general, Prince Soubise, had sixty thousand. The allies 
now felt sure of their prey. Their plan was to surround Fred- 
erick, destroy his army, and take him a prisoner. On the morn- 
ing of the 5th of November the two hostile armies were nearly 
facing each other, a few miles west of the River Saale. A party 
of Austrians was sent by the general of the allies to destroy the 
bridges upon the river in the rear of the Prussians, that their 
retreat might be cut off. Frederick, from a house-top, eagerly 
watched the movement of his foes. To his surprise and great 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



431 



satisfaction, he soon saw the whole allied army commencing a 
circuitous march around his left to fall upon him in his rear. 

Instantly, and " like a change of scene in the opera," the Prus- 
sians were on the rapid march to the east in as perfect order as 
if on parade. Taking advantage of an eminence called James 
Hill, which concealed their movements from the allies, Frederick 
hurled his whole concentrated force upon the flank of the van of 
the army on the advance. He thus greatly outnumbered his 
foes at the point of attack. The enemy, taken by surprise in 
their long line of march, had no time to form. 

" Compact as a wall, and with an incredible velocity, Seidlitz, 
in the blaze of rapid steel, is in upon them." From the first it 
was manifest that the destruction of the advance-guard was cer- 
tain. The Prussian cavalry slashed through it again and again, 
throwing it into inextricable disorder. In less than half an hour 
this important portion of the allied troops was put to utter rout, 
" tumbling off the ground, plunging down hill in full flight, across 
its own infantry, or whatever obstacle, Seidlitz on the hips of it, 
and galloping madly over the horizon." 




BATTLE OF KOSSBACH, NOVEMBER 5, 1757. 

a a. First Position of Combined Army. 6 6. First Position of Prussian Camp. cc. Advance of Prussian 
Army. dd. Second Position of Combined Army. ee. Prussians retire to Rossbach. f. French Cavalry, 
under St. Germain, gg. March of Combined Army to attack Prussian Rear. h. Prussian Attack led by 
Seidlitz. i. Position of Prussian Guns. 

And now the Prussian artillery, eighteen heavy guns, opened 
ia rapid and murderous fire upon the disordered mass, struggling 
in vain to deploy in line of battle. Infantry, artillery, cavalry, 



432 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

all were at work, straining every nerve, one mighty mind con- 
trolling and guiding the terrible mechanism in its death-dealing 
blows. The French regiments were jammed together. The Prus- 
sians, at forty paces, opened a platoon fire of musketry, five shots 
a minute. At the same moment the impetuous Seidlitz, with his 
triumphant and resistless dragoons, plunged upon the rear. The 
centre of the allied army was thus annihilated. It was no longer 
a battle, but a rout and a massacre. In twenty minutes this sec- 
ond astonishing feat was accomplished. 

The whole allied army was now put wildly to flight, in one 
of the most humiliating and disastrous retreats which has ever 
occurred. There is generally some slight diversity of statement 
in reference to the numbers engaged on such occasions. Freder- 
ick gives sixty-three thousand as the allied force. The allies 
lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, about ten thousand men. 
The loss of the Prussians was but five hundred. The French, in 
a tumultuous mass, fled to the west. Crossing the Unstrut Eiv- 
er at Freiburg, they burned the bridge behind them. The Prus- 
sians rebuilt the bridge, and vigorously pursued. The evening 
after the battle the king wrote as follows to Wilhelmina. His 
letter was dated " Near Weissenfels." 

"At last, my dear sister, I can announce to you a bit of good 
news. You were doubtless aware that the Cooj)ers with their 
circles had a mind to take Leipsic. I ran up and drove them 
beyond Saale. They called themselves 63,000 strong. Yester- 
day I went to reconnoitre .them ; could not attack them in the 
post they held. This rendered them rash. To-day they came 
out to attack me. It was a battle after one's own heart. Thanks 
to God,* I have not one hundred men killed. My brother Hen- 
ry and General Seidlitz have slight hurts. We have all the en- 
emy's cannon. I am in full march to drive them over the Un- 
strut. You, my dear sister, my good, my divine, my affectionate 
sister, who deign to interest yourself in the fate of a brother who 
adores you, deign also to share my joy. The instant I have time 
I will tell you more. I embrace you with my- whole heart. 
Adieu. F." 

Voltaire, speaking of this conflict, says, " It was the most in- 
conceivable and complete rout and discomfiture of which history 

* The atheistic pen of Frederick will sometimes slip. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 433 

makes any mention. Thirty thousand French and twenty thou- 
sand imperial troops were there seen making a disgraceful and 
precipitate flight before five battalions and a few squadrons. 
The defeats of Agincourt, Cressy, and Poitiers were not so hu- 
miliating."* 

As usual, Frederick wrote a poem upon the occasion. It was 
vulgar and profane. Carlyle says of it, " The author, with a wild 
burst of spiritual enthusiasm, sings the charms of the rearward 
part of certain men. He rises to the height of anti-biblical pro- 
fanity, quoting Moses on the Hill of Vision; sinks to the bot 
tomless of human or ultra-human depravity, quoting King Nico 
inedes's experience on Caesar, happily known only to the learned 
A most cynical, profane affair ; yet we must say, by way of pa- 
renthesis, one which gives no countenance to Voltaire's atrocities 
of rumor about Frederick himself in the macter."f 

The routed allies, exasperated and starving, and hating the 
Protestant inhabitants of the region through which they retreat^ 
ed, robbed and maltreated them without mercy. The woes which 
the defenseless inhabitants endured from the routed army in its 
flight no pen can adequately describe. 

An eye-witness writes from near Weissenfels, in a report to 
the King of Poland, whose allies the French were, and whose 
territories they were ravaging : 

" The French army so handled this place as not only to take 
from its inhabitants, by open force, all bread and articles of food, 
but likewise all clothes, bed-linens, and other portable goods. 
They also broke open, split to pieces, and emptied out all chests,, 
boxes, presses, drawers ; shot dead in the back-yards and on the 
roofs all manner of feathered stock, as hens, geese, pigeons. They 
carried off all swine, cows, sheep, and horses. They laid violent 
hands on the inhabitants, clapped swords, guns, and pistols to 
' their breasts, threatening to kill them unless they brought out 
whatever goods they had ; or hunted them out of their houses, 
shooting at them, cutting, sticking, and at last driving them away, 
thereby to have freer room to rob and plunder. They flung out 
hay and other harvest stock into the mud, and had it trampled 
to ruin under the horses' feet." 

" For a hundred miles around," writes St. Germain, " the coun- 

* Memoires jjour servir a la Vie de M. De Voltaire. f Carlyle, vol. v., p. 168. 

Ee 



434: FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

try is plundered and harried as if fire from heaven had fallen on 
it. Scarcely have our plunderers and marauders left the houses 
standing." 

This signal achievement raised the military fame of Frederick 
higher than ever before. Still it did not perceptibly diminish 
the enormous difficulties with which he was environed. Army 
after army was marching upon him. Even by a series of suc- 
cessful battles his forces might be annihilated. But the renown 
of the great victory of Eossbach will ever reverberate through 
the halls of history. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



THE LEUTHEN CAMPAIGN". 



Results of the Battle of Rossbach. — The Attack upon Breslau. — Extraordinary Address of the 
King to his Troops. — Confidence of the Prussians in their Commander. — Magnificent Array 
of the Austrians at Leuthen. — Tactics of Frederick.— The Battle Hymn. — The Battle and 
the Victory. — Scenes after the Battle. — Recapture of Breslau by Frederick. 

The battle of Rossbach was fought on the 5th of November, 
1?57. Frederick had but little time to rejoice over his victory. 
The Austrians were overrunning Silesia. On the 14th of the 
month, the important fortress of Schweidnitz, with all its mag- 
azines, fell into their hands. Then Prince Charles, with sixty 
thousand Austrian troops, marched upon Breslau, the principal 
city of Silesia, situated on the Oder. The Prince of Bevern held 
the place with a little over twenty thousand Prussian troops. 
His army was strongly intrenched outside of the walls, under 
the guns of the city. 

On the 22d of November the Austrians commenced their at- 
tack from five different points. It was a terrific conflict. Sixty 
thousand men stormed ramparts defended by twenty thousand 
as highly disciplined troops, and as desperate in valor, as ever 
stood upon a battle-field. The struggle commenced at three 
o'clock in the morning, and raged, over eight miles of country, 
until nine o'clock at night. Darkness and utter exhaustion ter- 
minated the conflict. The Austrians had lost, in killed and 
wounded, six thousand men, the Prussians eight thousand. 

Prince Bevern, aware that the battle would be renewed upon 
the morrow, and conscious that he could not sustain another 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 435 

such struggle, withdrew with his Prussian troops in the night, 
through the silent streets of Breslau, to the other side of the 
Oder, leaving eighty cannon behind him. The next morning, in 
visiting one of the outposts, he was surprised by a party of the 
Austrians and taken prisoner. It was reported that, fearing the 
wrath of the king, he had voluntarily allowed himself to be cap- 
tured. General Kyau, the next in rank, took the command. 
He rapidly retreated. Breslau, thus left to its fate, surrendered, 
with its garrison of four thousand men, ninety-eight pieces of 
cannon, and vast magazines filled with stores of war. The next 
day was Sunday. Te Deums were chanted by the triumphant 
Austrians in the Catholic churches in Breslau, and thanks were 
offered to God that Maria Theresa had reconquered Silesia, and 
that " our ancient sovereigns are restored to us." 

These were terrible tidings for Frederick. The news reached 
him at Gorlitz when on the rapid march toward Silesia. Prince 
Charles had between eighty and ninety thousand Austrian troops 
in the reconquered province. Frederick seemed to be marching 
to certain and utter destruction, as, with a feeble band of but 
about twenty thousand men, he pressed forward, declaring, " I 
will attack them if they stand on the steeples of Breslau." 

On the evening of the 3d of December, 1757, the king arrived 
at Parchwitz, in the heart of Silesia, about thirty miles from 
Breslau. Here the wreck of Prince Bevern's army joined him. 
Thus re-enforced, he could bring about thirty thousand men into 
the field. He immediately, in the night, assembled his principal 
officers, and thus addressed them ; the words were taken down 
at the time. We give this characteristic address slightly abbre- 
viated : 

" My friends, the disasters which have befallen us here are not 
unknown to you. Schweidnitz is lost. The Prince of Bevern is 
' beaten. Breslau is gone, and all our war-stores there. A large 
part of Silesia is lost. Indeed, my embarrassments would be in- 
superable were it not that I have boundless trust in you. There 
is hardly one among you who has not distinguished himself by 
some memorable action. All these services I well know, and 
shall never forget. 

" I flatter myself that now nothing will be wanting of that 
valor which the state has a right to expect of you. The hour is 



436 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

at hand. I should feel that I had accomplished nothing were I 
to leave Silesia in the hands of Austria. Let me then apprise 
you that I intend to attack Prince Charles's army, which is near- 
ly thrice the strength of our own, wherever I can find it. It 
matters not what are his numbers, or what the strength of his 
position. All this by courage and by skill we will try to over- 
come. This step I must risk, or all is lost. We must beat the 
enemy, or perish before his batteries. If there be any one who 
shrinks from sharing these dangers with me, he can have his dis- 
charge this evening." 

The king paused. A general murmur of applause indicated 
the united resolve to conquer or to die. Frederick immediately 
added : 

"Yes, Tknew it. Not one of you will forsake me. I rely 
upon your help and upon victory as sure. The cavalry regiment 
that does not, on the instant, on order given, dash full plunge 
into the enemy, I will directly after the battle unhorse, and make 
it a garrison regiment. The infantry battalion which, meet with 
what it may, shows the least sign of hesitating, loses its colors 
and its sabres, and I cut the trimmings from its uniform. 

" I shall be in the front and in the rear of the army. I shall 
fly from one wing to the other. No squadron and no company 
will escape my observation. Those who act well I will reward, 
and will never forget them. We shall soon either have beaten 
the enemy or we shall see each other no more." 

After this address to the assembled generals Frederick rode 
out to the camp, and addressed each regiment in the most famil- 
iar and fatherly, yet by no means exultant terms. It was night. 
The glare of torches shed a lurid light upon the scene. t The first 
regiment the king approached was composed of the cuirassiers 
of the Life Guard. 

"Well, my children," said Frederick, " how do you think that it 
will be with us now? The Austrians are twice as strong as we." 

"Never you mind that," they replied. "The Austrians are 
not Prussians. You know what we can do." 

" Indeed I do," the king responded. " Otherwise I durst not 
risk a battle. And now, my children, a good night's sleep to 
you. We shall soon attack the enemy ; and we shall beat him, 
or we shall all die." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 437 

" Yes, death or victory ," they shouted. Then from loving lips 
the cheer ran along the line, " Good-night, Fritz." 

And thus the king passed from regiment to regiment. Per- 
haps no commander, excepting Napoleon, has ever secured to an 
equal degree the love of his soldiers. It is said that a deserter 
was brought before him. 

" What induced you to desert me ?" inquired the king. 

" Alas ! your majesty," the man replied, " we are so few, and 
the Austrians are so many, that defeat is certain." 

"Well," the king replied, kindly, " try it one day more. If we 
do not mend matters, you and I will both desert together." 

The Austrian army, which outnumbered the Prussian over 
three to one, was in a camp, very strongly fortified, near Breslau. 
A council of war was held. Some of the Austrian officers, dread- 
ing the prowess of their redoubtable opponent, advised that they 
should remain behind their intrenchments, and await an attack. 
It would, of course, be impossible for less than thirty thousand 
men to storm ramparts bristling with artillery, and defended by 
nearly ninety thousand highly disciplined and veteran troops. 

Others, however, urged that this was ignoble and cowardly ; 
that it would expose them to the derision of the world if they, 
with their overwhelming numbers, were to take shelter behind 
their ramparts, fearing to attack so feeble a band. Prince 
Charles, anxious to regain lost reputation, and elated by the re- 
conquest of Silesia, adopted the more heroic resolve, and march- 
ed out to meet the foe. 

With great joy Frederick learned that the Austrians had left 
their camp, and were on the advance to attack him. He imme- 
diately put his little army in motion for the perilous and deci- 
sive conflict. It was four o'clock Sunday morning, December 4, 
1757, when Frederick left Parch witz on his march toward Bres- 
lau. He was familiar with every square mile of the region. 
The Austrians were so vastly superior in numbers that many of 
them quite despised the weakness of the Prussian army. Many 
jokes were tossed about in the Austrian camp respecting the 
feeble band of Frederick, which they contemptuously called the 
" Potsdam Guard." 

The Austrians, on the careless and self-confident march toward 
Parch witz, had crossed the Schweidnitz River, or Water, as it 



£38 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



was called, when they learned that Frederick, w^ith a tiger-like 
spring, had leaped upon Neumarkt, an important town fourteen 
miles from Parch witz. Here the Austrians had a bakery, pro- 
tected by a guard of a thousand men. Seven hundred of the 
guard were instantly sabred or taken prisoners. The rest fled 
wildly. Frederick gathered up eighty thousand hot bread ra- 
tions, with which he feasted his hungry troops. 




MAP OF THE LEUTHEN CAMPAIGN. 



Early on Monday morning the Prussians advanced from Neu- 
markt, eight miles, to Borne. Here they met the advance-guard 
of the Austrian cavalry. It was a dark, foggy morning. Fred- 
erick, as usual, was with his vanguard. Almost before the 
Austrians were conscious of the presence of the foe, they were 
assailed, with the utmost impetuosity, in front and on both their 
flanks. Instantly they were thrown into utter confusion. The 
ground was covered with their dead. Their general, Nostitz, 
was fatally wounded, and died the next day. Five hundred and 
forty were taken prisoners. The bleeding, breathless remnant 
fled pell-mell back to the main body, a few miles in the rear. 

Frederick, pressing forward directly east, toward Leuthen, as- 
cended an eminence, the height of Scheuberg, whence he beheld, 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 439 

directly before him, the whole majestic Austrian army. It ex- 
tended for a distance of about five miles, drawn up in battle-ar- 
ray across his path, from the village of Nypern on the north, 
through Leuthen, to the village of Sagschlitz on the south. So 
distinctly were their military lines spread out before the eye 
that Frederick, with his glass, could count them, man by man. 
Carefully the king studied the position of the enemy, and formed 
his plan of attack. He designed, while bewildering the Aus- 
trians by his manoeuvres, to direct the whole concentrated 
strength of his army upon their extreme left wing. He hoped 
thus, by the desperate impetuosity of his attack, to roll that 
whole left wing together in utter ruin before the centre or the 
right could come to its aid. He would then press on, with num- 
bers ever overpowering the Austrians at the j)oint of attack, un- 
til the whole line, five miles in length, was annihilated. 

An eye-witness thus describes the tactics by which Frederick 
executed his design : " It is a particular manoeuvre which, up to 
the present time, none but Prussian troops can execute with the 
precision and velocity indispensable to it. You divide your line 
into many pieces. You can push these forward stair-wise, so 
that they shall halt close to one another. Forming itself in this 
way, a mass of troops takes up in proportion very little ground. 
And it shows in the distance, by reason of the mixed uniforms 
and standards, a totally chaotic mass of men, heaped one on an- 
other. But it needs only that the commander lift his finger, and 
instantly this living coil of knotted intricacies develops itself in 
perfect order, and with a speed like that of mountain rivers."* 

" It was a beautiful sight," writes Tempelhof. " The heads of 
the columns were constantly on the same level, and at the dis- 
tance necessary for forming. All flowed on exact as if in a re- 
view. And you could read in the eyes of our brave troops the 
' temper they were in." 

As they inarched their voices burst forth simultaneously in a 
German hymn. The gush of their rude and many- voiced melody 
was borne distinctly on the wind to the eminence where Freder- 
ick stood, anxiously watching those movements which were to 
decide his own fate, that of his family, and of his kingdom. The 
following is a translation of one of the verses of this hymn : 

* Arehenholtz, vol, i., p. 209. 



440 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



" Grant that with zeal and skill, this day, I do 
What me to do behooves, what Thou command'st me to ; 
Grant that I do it sharp, at point of moment fit, 
And when I do it, grant me good success in it. "* 

These solemn tones of sacred psalmody fell impressively upon 
the ear of the king when his earthly all was trembling in the 
balance. Religionless and atheistic as he was, he could not re- 
press some visible emotion. One of his officers, aware of the 
king's avowed contempt for every thing of a religious nature, in- 
quired, 

"Shall we order that to cease, your majesty?" 

"By no means," the king replied. "With men like these I 
shall be sure of victory to-day !"f 




BATTLE OF LEUTHEN, DECEMBER 



a a. Austrian Army. 6 b. Position of Saxon Forepost, under Nostitz. c c. Advance of Prussian Army, 
d. Lucchesfs Cavalry, re-enforced by Daun. e. Left Wing, under Nadasti. f. Frederick's Hill of Observation, 
g g. Prussian Army about to attack, h. Ziethen's Cavalry, i i i. Retreat of Austrians. 

The field of Leuthen — for so this battle-field was called — was 
a vast undulating plain or rolling prairie, extending for miles in 
all directions. One or two brooks flowed sluggishly through it. 
Here and there were expanses of marsh which neither horse nor 
foot could traverse. A few scraggy firs dotted the dreary land- 

" Gieb dass ich thu' mit Fleiss was mir zu thun gebuhret, 
Wozu mich dein Befehl in meinem Stande fuhret, _ 
Gieb dass ich's thue bald, zu der Zeit da ich's soil ; 
Und wenn ich's thu', so gieb dass es gerathe wohl. " 
f "Indeed, there is in him, in those grim days, a tone as of trust in the Eternal, as of real re- 
ligious piety and faith, scarcely noticeable elsewhere in his history. His religion, and he had, in 
withered forms, a good deal of it, if we will look well, being almost always in a strictly voiceless 
state — nay, ultra voiceless, or voiced the wrong way, as is too well known !" — Carlyle. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 441 

scape, and there were also a few hamlets of peasants' huts scatter- 
ed around. Frederick concealed his movements as much as pos- 
sible behind the undulations, and succeeded in deceiving the 
Austrians into the belief that he was to make an attack upon 
their right wing. The Austrian officers, on windmills and in 
church belfries, were eagerly scrutinizing his manoeuvres. De- 
ceived into the conviction that their right wing was menaced, 
they impetuously pushed forward large re-enforcements of horse 
to the support of the presumed point of attack. Thus the left 
wing was weakened. 

Frederick, who had taken his position upon a windmill, saw, 
with much satisfaction, the successful operation of his plan. 
Suddenly, with almost miraculous swiftness of movement, his 
perfectly drilled troops, horse, foot, and artillery, every man reck- 
less of life, poured forth with a rush and a roar as of a lava-flood 
upon the extreme left of the Austrians. It was one o'clock of 
the day. There was neither brook, bush, fence, nor marsh to im- 
pede the headlong impetuosity of the assault. At the point of 
attack the Prussians were, of course, most numerous. There 
were a few moments of terrible slaughter, and the left wing of 
the Austrian army was annihilated. The ground was covered 
with the wounded and the dead, and the fugitives, in dismay, 
were fleeing across the fields. 

The Austrian centre was pushed rapidly forward 'to the aid 
of the discomfited left. It was too late. The soldiers arrived 
upon the ground breathless and in disorder. Before they had 
time to form, Frederick plowed their ranks with balls, swept 
them with bullets, and fell upon them mercilessly with sabre 
and bayonet. The carnage was awful. Division after division 
melted away in the fire deluge which consumed them. Prince 
Charles made the most desperate efforts to rally his dismayed 
troops in and around the church-yard at Leu then. Here for an 
hour they fought desperately. But it was all in vain. The left 
wing was destroyed. The centre was destroyed. The right 
wing was pushed forward only to be cut to pieces by the sabres, 
and to be mown down by the terrific fire of the triumphant Prus- 
sians. 

Scarcely had the conflict upon the extreme left commenced ere 
it was evident that by tLe military sagacity of Frederick the 



442 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

doom of the Austrian army was sealed. With thirty thousand 
men he had attacked ninety thousand on the open field, and was 
utterly overwhelming them. An Austrian officer, Prince De 
Ligne, describing the battle, writes : 

" Cry had risen for the reserve, and that it must come on as 
fast as possible. We ran at our utmost speed. Our lieutenant 
colonel fell, killed, at the first. Then we lost our major, and, in- 
deed, all the officers but three. We had crossed two successive 
ditches which lay in an orchard to the left of the first houses in 
Leuthen, and were beginning to form in front of the village. But 
there was no standing it. Besides a general cannonade, such as 
can scarcely be imagined, there was a rain of case-shot upon this 
battalion, of which I had to take command. A Prussian bat- 
talion at the distance of eighty paces gave the liveliest fire upon 
us. It stood as if on the parade-ground, and waited for us with- 
out stirring. My soldiers, who were tired with running, and 
had no cannon, soon became scattered. At last, when I had but 
two hundred left, I drew back to the height where the wind- 
mill is." 

Before the sun went down the Austrian army was every where 
flying from the field in hopeless confusion. Their rush was in 
four torrents toward the east, to reach the bridges which crossed 
the Schweidnitz Water. There were four of them. One was on 
the main road at Lissa ; one a mile north at Stabelwitz ; and two 
on the south, one at Goldschmieden, and the other at Hermanns- 
dorf. The victory of Frederick was one of the most memorable 
in the annals of war. The Austrians lost in killed and. wound- 
ed ten thousand men. Twenty-one thousand were taken prison- 
ers. This was a heavier loss in numbers than the whole army 
of Frederick. The victors also took fifty-one flags, and a hun- 
dred and sixteen cannon. 

As the king cast his eye over the blood-stained field, covered 
with the wounded and the dead, for a moment he seemed over- 
come with the aspect of misery, and exclaimed, "When, oh when 
will my woes cease ?" 

" My children, " said Frederick that night at parole, " after such 
a day's work you deserve rest. This day will send the renown 
of your name and that of the nation down to the latest pos- 
terity." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. -443 

He did not order the exhausted troops to pursue the foe. 
Still, as he rode along the line after dark, he inquired, 

" Is there any battalion which has a mind to follow ine to 
Lissa?" 

Three volunteered. It was so dark that the landlord of a lit- 
tle country inn walked with a lantern by the side of Frederick's 
horse. Lissa was on the main road to Breslau. The landlord 
supposed that he was guiding one of Frederick's generals, and 
was very communicative. 

"Yesterday noon," said he, "I had Prince Charles in my par- 
lor. His adjutants and people were all crowding about. Such 
a questioning and bothering. Hundreds came dashing in, and 
other hundreds were sent out. In and out they went all night. 
No sooner was one gone than ten came. I had to keep a roar- 
ing fire in the kitchen all night, so many officers were crowding 
to it to warm themselves. They talked and babbled. One 
would say that our king was marching upon them with his Pots- 
dam parade guard. Another would say, ' No, he dare not come. 
He will turn and run.' But my delight is that our king has 
paid them for their fooleries so prettily this afternoon." 

" When did you get rid of your guests ?" inquired the king. 

"About nine this morning," was the reply, "the prince got to 
horse. Not long after three he came back again with a swarm 
of officers, all going full speed for Lissa. They were full of brag- 
ging when they came ; now they were off wrong side foremost ! 
I saw how it was. Close following after him the flood of them 
ran. The high road was not broad enough. It was an hour 
and more before it ended. Such a pell-mell, such a welter ! cav- 
alry and infantry all jumbled together. Our king must have 
given them a terrible flogging." 

When the king- reached Lissa he found the village full of Aus- 
'trian officers and soldiers in a state of utter disorganization and 
confusion. Had the Austrians known their strength or the weak- 
ness of the king, they might easily have taken him captive. 
Frederick was somewhat alarmed. He, however, assumed a bold 
front, and rode to the principal house in the town, which was a 
little one side of the main street. The house was crowded with 
Austrian officers, bustling about, seeking lodgings for the night. 
The king stepped in with a slight escort, and said gayly, 



444 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



" Good evening, gentlemen, good evening. Can you make room 
for me here, do you think V 




THE KING IN SEARCH OF" LODGINGS. 



The astounded Austrians bowed to the dust before him, es- 
corted him to the best room, and, stealing out into the darkness, 
made their way as rapidly as possible to the bridge, which at 
the east end of the street crossed the Schweidnitz Water. At 
the farther end of the bridge Austrian cannon were planted to 
arrest the pursuit. The officers hurried across, and vanished in 
the gloom of night, followed by the river-guard. The Prussian 
cannoneers steadily pursued, and kept up through the night an 
incessant fire upon the rear of the foe. 

The night was very dark and cold. A wintry wind swept the 
bleak, frozen fields. Still the routed Austrians pressed on. Still 
the tireless Prussians pursued. The Prussian soldiers were Prot- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 445 

estants. Many of them were well instructed in religion. As 
they pressed on through the gloom, sweeping the road before 
them with artillery discharges, their voices simultaneously burst 
forth into a well-known Church hymn, a sort of Protestant Te 
Deum — 

" Now thank God, one and all, 

With heart, with voice, with hands, 
Who wonders great hath done 
To us and to all lands."* 

Early in the morning Frederick's whole army was on the rapid 
march for Breslau, which was scarcely twenty miles distant from 
the battle-field. The Austrians had collected immense military 
stores in the city. Prince Charles, as he fled through the place 
with the wreck of his army, left a garrison of seventeen thousand 
men for its defense. In a siege of twelve days, during which 
there was an incessant bombardment and continual assaults, the 
city was carried. A few days after this, Liegnitz, which the Aus- 
trians had strongly fortified, was also surrendered to the victor. 
Frederick had thus reconquered the whole of Silesia excepting 
the single fortress of Schweidnitz. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

DOMESTIC GRIEFS AND MILITARY REVERSES. 

Destruction of the Army of Prince Charles. — Dismay in Vienna. — Testimony of Napoleon I. — 
Of Voltaire. — Wretchedness of the King. — Compromise rejected. — New Preparations for 
War.— Treaty between England and Prussia.— Plan of the Campaign. — Siege of Olmiitz. — 
Death of Prince Augustus William. — The Baggage Train. — The irreparable Disaster. — Anx- 
iety of Frederick for Wilhelmina. — The March against the Russians. — The Battle of Zorn- 
dorf. — Anecdotes of Frederick. 

The army of Prince Charles was so utterly destroyed or dis- 
persed by the battle of Leuthen that the morning after his ter- 
rible defeat he could rally around his banners, by count, but fifty 
thousand men. These were utterly disheartened. Stragglers 
were wandering all over the country. A few thousand of these 
again joined the ranks. Seventeen thousand men left in Breslau 
were soon captured. Prince Charles, abandoning guns and wag- 

* " Nun danket alle Gott 

Mit Herzen, Mund unci Hiinden, 
Der grosse Dinge thut, 
An uns und alien Enclen." 



446 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ons, fled through rain, and mud, and sleet directly south toward 
Koniggratz, in Bohemia. The sufferings of the troops were aw- 
ful. Several hundred sentinels, in one night, were frozen stiff at 
their posts. The dreadful retreat continued for ten days. 

" The army," writes Prince Charles, mournfully, " was greatly 
dilapidated. The soldiers were without clothes, and in a condi- 
tion truly pitiable. So closely were we pursued by the enemy 
that at night we were compelled to encamp without tents." 

Having reached the shelter of Koniggratz, he counted his 
troops, and found that he had in rank and file but thirty-seven 
thousand men. Of these, twenty -two thousand, from sickness, 
exhaustion, and wounds, were in hospital. Thus, out of the army 
of ninety thousand men with which he had commenced the cam- 
paign early in December, at the close of the month he could ar- 
ray but fifteen thousand on any field of battle. 

The astonishment and indignation in Vienna, in view of this 
terrible defeat, were intense. Prince Charles was immediately 
relieved of his command, and General Daun appointed in his 
stead. It is the testimony of all military men that the battle of 
Leuthen was one of the most extraordinary feats of war. Xa- 
poleon, speaking of it at St. Helena, said, 

" This battle is a masterpiece of movements, of manoeuvres, 
and of resolution. It is enough to immortalize Frederick, and 
to rank him among the greatest generals. It develops, in the 
highest degree, both his moral and his military qualities." - 

Voltaire, in summing up a sketch of this campaign of 1757, 
writes in characteristic phrase : 

" Even Gustavus Adolphus never did such great things. One 
must, indeed, pardon Frederick his verses, his sarcasms, and his 
little malices. All the faults of the man disappear before the 
glory of the hero." 

On the 19th of December, the day of the capitulation of Bres- 
lau, Frederick wrote from that place to his friend D'Argens as 
follows : 

"Your friendship seduces you, mon clier. I am but a paltry 
knave in comparison with Alexander, and not worthy to tie the 
shoe-latchets of Caesar. Necessity, who is the mother of indus- 
try, has made me act, and have recourse to desperate remedies in 
evils of a like nature. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 447 

"We have taken here from fourteen to fifteen thousand pris- 
oners. In all, I have above twenty-three thousand of the queen's 
troops in iny hands, fifteen generals, and above seven hundred 
officers. It is a plaster on my wounds, but it is far enough from 
healing them." 

It was now midwinter. Frederick, having established his 
troops in winter quarters, took up his residence in Breslau. His 
troubles were by no means ended. Vastly outnumbering foes 
still surrounded him. Very vigorous preparations were to be 
made for the sanguinary conflicts which the spring would surely 
introduce. Frederick did what he could to infuse gayety into 
the society at Breslau, though he had but little heart to enter 
into those gayeties himself. For a week he suffered severely 
from colic pains, and could neither eat nor sleep. "Eight 
months," he writes, " of anguish and agitation do wear one down." 

His sister Amelia and several other friends visited him at 
Breslau. Among others was his reader, Henry de Catt. 

"Should you have known me?" the king inquired of De Catt. 

" Hardly," he replied, " in that dress. Besides, your majesty 
has grown thinner." 

"That may well be," rejoined the king, "with the cursed life 
I have been leading." 

Frederick still sought recreation in writing verses which he 
called poetry. To D Argens he wrote, " I have made a prodig- 
ious quantity of verses. If I live I will show them to you. If 
I perish they are bequeathed to you, and I have ordered that they 
be put into your hand." 

Again he wrote D' Argens on the 26 th of December, "What a 
pleasure to hear that you are coming. I have sent a party of 
light horse to conduct you. You can make short journeys. I 
have directed that horses be ordered for you, that your rooms be 
'warmed every where, and good fowls ready on all roads. Your 
apartment in this house is carpeted, hermetically shut. You 
shall suffer nothing from draughts or from noise." 

Frederick, having regained Silesia, was anxious for peace. He 
wrote a polite letter to Maria Theresa, adroitly worded, so as to 
signify that desire without directly expressing it. The empress 
queen, disheartened by the disasters of Kossbach and Leuthen, 
was rather inclined to listen to such suggestions ; but the Duch- 



448 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ess of Pompadour verified the adage that " hell has no fury like 
a woman scorned." She governed the wretched Louis XV., and 
through him governed France. In her intense personal exaspera- 
tion against Frederick she would heed no terms of compromise, 
and infused new energy into all warlike operations. Large sub- 
sidies were paid by France to Austria, Sweden, and Eussia, to 
prepare for the campaign of 1758. 

Frederick was soon aware that peace was out of the question 
without farther fighting. Before the 1st of April he had one 
hundred and forty-five thousand men ready for the field. Of 
these, fifty-three thousand were in Silesia. Many of the Aus- 
trian deserters were induced to join his standards. But the most 
important event secured was forming a subsidy treaty with En- 
gland. The British cabinet, alarmed in view of the power which 
the successful prosecution of the war on the part of the allies 
would give to France, after much hesitation, came to the aid of 
Frederick, whom they hated as much as they feared France. On 
the 11th of April, 1758, a treaty was signed between the English 
court and Frederick, containing the following important item : 

" That Frederick shall have six hundred and seventy thousand 
pounds ($3,350,000), payable in London to his order, in October, 
this year, which sum Frederick engages to spend wholly in the 
maintenance and increase of his army for behoof of the common 
object ; neither party to dream of making the least shadow of 
peace or truce without the other." 

Schweidnitz was strictly blockaded during the winter. On 
the 15th of March, the weather being still cold, wet, and stormy, 
Frederick marched from Br eslau to attack the place. His siege 
artillery was soon in position. With his accustomed impetuosi- 
ty he commenced the assault, and, after a terrific bombardment 
of many days, on the night of the 15th of April took the works 
by storm. The garrison, which had dwindled from eight thou- 
sand to four thousand Hve hundred, was all captured, with fifty- 
one guns, thirty-five thousand dollars of money, and a large 
quantity of stores. Thus the whole of Silesia was again in the 
hands of Frederick. 

It was supposed that his Prussian majesty would now march 
southwest for the invasion of Bohemia. Austria made vigorous 
prejDarations to meet him there. Much to the surprise and be- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 449 

wilderment of the Austrians, the latter part of April Frederick 
directed his columns toward the southeast. His army, about 
forty thousand strong, was in two divisions. By a rapid march 
through Neisse and Jagerndorf he reached Troppau, on the ex- 
treme southern frontier of Silesia. He then turned to the south- 
west. It was again supposed that he intended to invade Bohe- 
mia, but from the east instead of from the north. 

General Daun, in command of the Austrian forces, rapidly 
concentrated his troops around Leutomischel, where he had ex- 
tensive magazines. But Frederick, leaving Leutomischel far 
away on his right, pressed forward in a southerly direction, and 
on the 12th of May appeared before Olrniitz. His march had 
been rapidly and admirably conducted, dividing his troops into 
columns for the convenience of road and subsistence. 

Olmiitz was an ancient, strongly fortified city of Moravia, 
pleasantly situated on the western banks of the Morawa River. 
It had been the capital of Moravia, and contained about ten 
thousand inhabitants. The place subsequently became renown- 
ed from the imprisonment of Lafayette in its citadel for many 
years. The city had become an arsenal, and one of the most im- 
portant military store-houses of Austria. 

Olmiitz was ninety miles from Troppau, in Silesia, where Fred- 
erick had established his base of supplies. This was a long line 
of communication to protect. General Daun, with a numerous 
Austrian army, all whose movements were veiled by clouds of 
those fleet and shaggy horsemen called Pandours, was forty miles 
to the west, at Leutomischel. Cautious in the extreme, nothing 
could draw him into a general battle. But he watched his foe 
with an eagle eye, continually assailing his line of communica- 
tion, and ever ready to strike his heaviest blows upon any ex- 
posed point. 

- The king's brother Henry was in command in Saxony, at the 
head of thirty thousand troops. Frederick wrote to him the 
characteristic and very judicious advice, " Do as energetically as 
possible whatever seems wisest to you. But hold no councils 
of war." 

The plan of his Prussian majesty was bold and sagacious. 
He supposed that he could easily take Olmiitz. Availing him- 
self of the vast magazines to be found there, he would summon 

Ff 



450 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



his brother Henry to join him by a rapid march through Bohe- 
mia, and with their combined force of sixty thousand troops they 
would make a rush upon Vienna. The Austrian capital was 
distant but about one hundred miles, directly south. As the 
Austrian army was widely dispersed, there were but few impedi- 
ments to be encountered. The success of this plan would com- 
pel the allies to withdraw their forces from the territories of the 
King of Prussia, if it did not enable Frederick to dictate peace 
in the palaces of Maria Theresa. 

Olmiitz was found very strongly fortified. It was so situated 
that, with the force Frederick had, it could not be entirely in- 
vested. Baron Marshal, a very brave and energetic old man, 
sixty-seven years of age, conducted the defense. 

His garrison consisted of about fourteen thousand infantry 
and six hundred dragoons. General Daun was at the distance 
of but two marches, with a larger Austrian force than Frederick 
commanded. Nothing can more clearly show the dread with 
which the Austrians regarded their antagonist than the fact that 
General Daun did not march immediately upon Olmiitz, and, 




SIEGE OF OLMUTZ, MAY 12 — JULY 2, 1758. 

i a. Stages of the Prussian March, b. Daun's Encampment, c. Prussian Batteries and Intrenchments. 
ddd. Prussian Camps, e e. Loudon's March against MoseVs Convoy. //. MoseVs resting Quarters, g. Con- 
voy attacked and ruined. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 451 

with the aid of a sally from the garrison, overwhelm and crush 
Frederick beneath their united assaults. 

For seven weeks the siege of Olmiitz was prosecuted with 
great vigor. With much skill Frederick protected his baggage 
trains in their long and exposed route of ninety miles through 
forests and mountain denies. General Keith was intrusted with 
the details of the siege facing the town toward the east ; Freder- 
ick, with a vigilant corps of horse and foot, was about twenty 
miles to the west, watching every movement of General Daun, 
so far as he was able through the thick cloud of Pandours, be- . 
hind which the Austrian commander endeavored to conceal all 
his manoeuvres. 

While engaged in these labors the tidings reached him of the 
death of his brother Augustus William. He was Prince of Prus- 
sia, being, next to the childless Frederick, heir to the crown. 
Frederick seems to have received the news very heartlessly. 

" Of what did he die ?" he coldly inquired of the messenger. 

" Of chagrin, your majesty," was the reply. 

Frederick turned upon his heel, and made no answer. 

The unhappy Prince of Prussia, on his dying bed, wrote a 
very touching letter to his brother Frederick, remonstrating 
against his conduct, which was not only filling Europe with 
blood and misery, but which was also imperiling the existence 
of the Prussian kingdom. 

" The slow fever," he wrote, " which consumes me, has not 
thrown any disorder into my understanding. Condescend to 
listen to me, sire, now that I can not be suspected of any illusion 
or deceit. There is an end to the house of Prussia if you con- 
tinue to brave all Europe confederated against you. You force 
all Europe to arm to repel your encroachments. The princes of 
Europe are leagued against your majesty by justice and by in- 
' terest. Their subjects regard your ruin as essential to the re-es- 
tablishment of peace and the safety of monarchical government. 
They read in your success the slavery of the human race, the an- 
nihilation of laws, the degradation of society." 

In reference to the course which the king had allowed himself 
to pursue in obtaining access to the archives of Saxony by brib- 
ing an officer to betray his trust, Augustus William wrote : 

" The more you have proved that you were acquainted with 



452 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

the intentions of Saxony, the more odious have you rendered its 
invasion. In order to procure this knowledge, your minister has 
degraded his character. By means proscribed in society, you 
have discovered only that the King Elector of Saxony did not 
love the power of Prussia, that he feared it, and that he even 
dared to form projects to defend himself against it. Documents 
which are stolen make against the accuser who produces them, 
if they do not prove the crime which they impute."* 

In conclusion, in most pathetic terms he entreated the king to 
listen to terms of peace, and thus to prevent the ruin of himself, 
of his people, and of his royal house. 

At the same time that the tidings of the ^eath of Augustus 
William were communicated to the king, he received also the 
tidings, w T hich to him w 7 ere truly heart-rending, that Wilhelmina, 
worn down with care and sorrow, was fast sinking into the grave. 

Early in June, the cautious but ever- vigilant General Daun 
succeeded in throwing into Olmiitz a re-enforcement of eleven 
hundred Austrian troops. They were guided by peasants through 
by-paths in the forests. Crossing the river some miles below 
Olmiitz, they entered the city from the east. 

Still, on the whole, the siege progressed favorably. Large sup- 
plies of food and ammunition were indispensable to Frederick. 
Thirty thousand hungry men were to be fed. A constant bom- 
bardment rapidly exhausts even abundant stores of powder, 
shot, and shell. 

In the latter part of June a large train of over three thousand 
four-horse wagons, laden with all necessary supplies, left Trop- 
pau for Olmiitz. It is difficult for a reader unfamiliar with such 
" scenes to form any conception of the magnitude of such an en- 
terprise. There are twelve thousand horses to be shod, harness- 
ed, and fed, and watered three or four times a day. There are 
three thousand wagons to be kept in repair, rattling over the 
stones and plowing through the mire. Six thousand teamsters 
are required. There is invariably connected with such a move- 
ment one or two thousand camp-followers, sutlers; women, vaga- 
bonds. A large armed force is also needed to act as convoy. 

This train filled the road for a distance of twenty miles. To 
traverse the route of ninety miles required six days. The road 

* Vie de Frederic II., Roi de Prusse, Strasbourg, 1788, t. ii., p. 317. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 453 

led through forests and mountain defiles. A bold and vigorous 
foe, well equipped and well mounted, watched the movement. 
To protect such a train from assault is one of the most difficult 
achievements of war. The enemy, suddenly emerging from 
mountain fastnesses or gloomy forests, can select his point of at- 
tack, and then sweep in either direction along the line, burning 
and destroying. 

On the 26th of June this vast train commenced its movement 
from Troppau. A convoy of about seven thousand infantry and 
eleven hundred cavalry guarded the wagons. They were in 
three bodies, on the front, in the centre,. and on the rear. The 
king also sent forward about six thousand horse and foot from 
Olmutz to meet the train. 

The wagons had accomplished about half the distance, when, 
on Friday, the 30th of June, as they were emerging from wild 
ravines among the mountains, they were simultaneously attacked 
in front, centre, and rear by three divisions of the Austrians, each 
about five thousand strong. Then ensued as terrible a scene of 
panic and confusion as war has ever witnessed. The attack of 
horsemen with their gleaming sabres, the storm of bullets, thick 
as hailstones, the thunders of the cannon, as the ponderous balls 
tore their way through wagons, and horses, and men, soon pre- 
sented such a spectacle of devastation, ruin, and woe as mortal 
eyes have seldom gazed upon. 

" Among the tragic wrecks of this convoy there is one that still 
goes to our heart. A longish, almost straight row of Prussian 
recruits stretched among the slain, what are these \ These were 
seven hundred recruits coming up from their cantons to the wars. 
See how they have fought to the death, poor lads ! and have hon- 
orably, on the sudden, got manumitted from the toils of life. 
Seven hundred of them stood to arms this morning; some sixty- 
* five will get back to Troppau ; that is the invoice account. There 
they lie with their blonde young cheeks, beautiful in death."* 

A large portion of the train was utterly destroyed. The re- 
mainder was driven back to Troppau. The disaster was irrep- 
arable. The tidings were conveyed to Frederick the next day, 
July 1. They must have fallen upon him with crushing weight. 
It was the annihilation of all his hopes for the campaign, and 

* Carlvle. 



454: FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

rendered it necessary immediately to raise the siege and retreat. 
This extraordinary man did not allow himself to manifest the 
slightest despondency. He assembled his officers, and, with a 
smiling face, and hopeful, cheering words, announced his decision. 

All Saturday night the bombardment was continued with in- 
creasing fury. In the mean time four thousand wagons were 
packed, and, long before the dawn of Sunday morning, were on 
the road. The retreat was so admirably conducted that General 
Daun did not venture even to attempt to harass the retiring 
columns. Instead of moving in a northerly direction to Silesia, 
Frederick directed his march to the northwest, into Bohemia. 
On the 8th of July his long column safely reached Leutomischel. 
He there seized quite an amount of military stores, which Gen- 
eral Daun, in his haste and bewilderment, had not been able to 
remove or to destroy. Five more marches conducted him to 
Koniggratz. 

General Daun, with the utmost caution, followed the retreat- 
ing army. Though his numbers were estimated at seventy-five 
thousand, he did not dare to encounter Frederick with his thirty 
thousand Prussians on the field of battle. With skill which has 
elicited the applause of all military critics, Frederick, early in 
August, continued his retreat till he reached, on the 8th of the 
month, Griissau, on his own side of the mountains in Silesia. On 
this march he wrote to his brother Henry from Skalitz : 

" What you write to me of my sister of Baireuth makes me 
tremble. Next to my mother, she is the one I have most ten- 
derly loved in this world. She is a sister who has my heart and 
all my confidence, and whose character is of a price beyond all 
the crowns in the universe. From my tenderest years I was 
brought up with her. You can conceive how there reigns be- 
tween us that indissoluble bond of mutual affection and attach- 
ment for life which in many cases were impossible. Would to 
Heaven that I might die before her I" 

On the 9th of August he wrote from Griissau to Wilhelmina 
herself: " Oh, you, the dearest of my family, you whom I have 
most at heart of all in this world, for the sake of whatever is 
most precious to you, preserve yourself, and let me have at least 
the consolation of shedding my tears in your bosom !" 

Frederick had left Griissau on the 18th of April for his Mora- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 455 

vian campaign. He returned on the 8th of August, after an ab- 
sence of sixteen weeks. The campaign had proved an entire 
failure. A Russian army, fifty thousand strong, under General 
Fermor, had invaded Brandenburg, just beyond the extreme 
northern frontier of Silesia. These semi-barbarian soldiers had 
burned the town of Custrin, on the Oder, were besieging the 
small garrison in its citadel, and were committing the most hor- 
rid outrages upon the community around, not only plundering 
and burning, but even consigning captives to the flames. 

On Friday, the 11th of August, Frederick, leaving forty thou- 
sand men to guard Silesia, took fifteen thousand troops, and com- 
menced a very rapid march to attack the fifty thousand Russians. 
Upon the eve of his departure he wrote to his brother Henry : 

" I march to-morrow against the Russians. As the events of 
war may lead to all sorts of accidents, and it may easily happen 
to me to be killed, I have thought it my duty to let you know 
what my plans were ; the rather, as you are the guardian of my 
nephew,* with unlimited authority," 

He then gave minute directions as to what he wished to have 
done in case of his death. Marching rapidly through Liegnitz 
and Hohenfriedberg, he reached Frankfort-on-the-Oder on Sun- 
day, the 20th of August. He was now within twenty miles of 
Custrin, and the bombardment by the heavy siege guns of the 
Russians could be distinctly heard. Frederick took lodgings at 
the house of a clergyman's widow. Frequently he arose and 
went out of doors, listening impatiently to the cannonade. An 
eye-witness writes : 

" I observed that the king took a pinch of snuff as the sound 
of each discharge reached him. And even through that air of 
intrepidity, which never abandoned this prince, I could perceive 
the sensations of pity toward that unfortunate town, and an 
eager impatience to fly to its relief." 

The next morning, taking with him a small escort, and leaving 
his army to follow with as much speed as possible, he rode rap- 
idly down the western bank of the Oder to Gorgast, where he 
had an encampment of about fifteen thousand Prussian troops. 
At five o'clock in the morning of Tuesday the two bands were 
united. He now had at his command thirty thousand men. 

* The son of the late Prince of Prussia. He was now heir to the crown. 



456 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Ciistrin was on the eastern bank of the Oder, near the confluence 
of the Warta, A few miles below Ciistrin, at Schauniburg, there 
were portions of a bridge across the Oder. Here the Russians 
had erected a redoubt. Frederick ordered a violent attack upon 
that redoubt. During the night, while the attention of the Rus- 
sians was occupied by the assault, Frederick marched his army 
twelve miles farther down the river, and crossed, without any 
loss, at Giistebiese. His baggage train he left, carefully guarded, 
on the western bank of the river. 

Pressing straight forward, Wednesday morning, to the east, he 
encamped that night about ten miles from Gnistebiese. He had 
so successfully veiled his movements that the Russians knew not 
where he was. On Thursday morning, August 24, at an early 
hour, he resumed his march, and crossed the Mtitzel River at va- 
rious points. His confidence of victory was so great that he de- 
stroyed all the bridges behind him to prevent the retreat of the 
Russians. 

General Fermor was now informed, through his roving Cos- 
sacks, of the position of Frederick. Immediately he raised the 
siege of Ciistrin, hurried off his baggage train to Klein Kamin, 
on the road to Landsberg, and retired with his army to a very 
strong position near the village of Zorndorf. Here there was a 
wild, bleak, undulating plain, interspersed with sluggish streams, 
and fdrests, and impassable bogs. General Fermor massed the 
Russian troops in a very irregular hollow square, with his staff 
baggage in the centre, and awaited an attack. This huge quad- 
rilateral of living lines, four men deep, with bristling bayonets, 
prancing horses, and iron -lipped cannon, was about two miles 
long by one mile broad. 

At half past three o'clock on Friday morning, Frederick, with 
his whole army, w^as again upon the march. He swept quite 
around the eastern end of the Russian square, and approached 
it from the south. By this sagacious movement he could, in case 
of disaster, retreat to Ciistrin. 

The morning of a hot August day dawned sultry, the wind 
breathing gently from the south. Bands of Cossacks hovered 
around upon the wings of the Prussian array, occasionally riding 
up to the infantry ranks and discharging their pistols at them. 
The Prussians were forbidden to make any reply. " The infantry 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



457 



pours along like a plowman drawing his furrow, heedless of the 
circling crows." The Cossacks set fire to Zorndorf. In a few 
hours it was in ashes, while clouds of suffocating smoke were 
swept through the Russian lines. 

The attack was made about eight o'clock, with the whole con- 
centrated force of the Prussians, upon the southwest wing of the 
quadrilateral. The carnage produced by the Prussian batteries, 
as their balls swept crosswise through the massed Russians, was 
terrible.' One cannon-shot struck down forty -two men. For a 
moment the Prussians were thrown into confusion by the de- 
structive fire returned by the foe, and seemed discomfited. The 
Russians plunged wildly forward, with loud huzzas. In the ea- 
gerness of their onset their lines were broken. 

General Seidlitz, with five thousand horsemen, immediately 
dashed in among them. Almost in an instant the shouts of vic- 




CHARGE OF GENERAL SEIDLITZ AT ZORNDORF. 



458 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

tory sank away in groans of death. It was an awful scene — a 
maelstrom of chaotic tumult, shrieks, blood, and death. The 
stolid Russians refused to fly. The Prussians sabred them and 
trampled them beneath their horses' feet until their arms were 
weary. This terrible massacre lasted until one o'clock. The 
whole of the western portion of the quadrilateral was destroyed. 
The Russian soldiers at a little distance from the scene of car- 
nage, reckless and under poor discipline, broke open the sutlers' 
brandy-casks, and were soon beastly drunk. The officers, endeav- 
oring to restrain them, dashed in many of the casks. The sol- 
diers, throwing themselves upon the ground, lapped the fiery 
liquid from the puddles. They killed many of their own officers, 
and became almost unresisting victims of the sabres and bayo- 
nets of their assailants. The Prussians, exasperated by the aw- 
ful acts of cruelty which had been perpetrated by the Russians, 
showed no mercy. In the midst of the butchery, the word ran 
along their lines, " No quarter." 

The eastern half of the immense quadrangle endeavored to re- 
form itself, so as to present a new front to the foe. But, before 
this could be done, Frederick hurled his right wing, his centre, 
and all that remained disposable of his left wing upon it. His 
cavalry plunged into the disordered mass. His batteries, with 
almost unprecedented rapidity of fire, tore the tumultuous and 
panic-stricken ranks to shreds ; and his line of infantry, like a su- 
pernatural wall of bristling steel, unwaveringly advanced, pour- 
ing in upon the foe the most deadly volleys. 

At one moment the Russian horse dashed against this line and 
staggered it. Frederick immediately rushed into the vortex to 
rally the broken battalions. At the same instant the magnifi- 
cent squadrons of Seidlitz, five thousand strong, flushed with vic- 
tory, swept like the storm -wind upon the Russian dragoons. 
They were whirled back like autumn leaves before the gale. 
About four o'clock the firing ceased. The ammunition on both 
sides was nearly expended. For some time the Prussians had 
been using the cartridge-boxes of the dead Russians. 

And now ensued a conflict such as has seldom been witnessed 
in modern times. The Russian soldiers would not run. Indeed, 
the bridges over the Mutzel being broken down, they could only 
plunge into the river and be drowned. Frenzied with brandy, 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



459 




BATTLE OF ZORNDORF, AUGUST 25,1758. 

a a. Prussian Army about to cross the Mutzel. bbb. Russian Army ranked for Battle, c. Russian Baggage, 
d d. Pmssian Infantry, e e. Prussian Cavalry, f. Prussian Baggage. 

they fought like tigers. " Then began a tug of deadly massacring 
and wrestling, man to man, with bayonets, with butts of muskets, 
with hands, even with teeth, such as was never seen before. The 
shore of Mtitzel is thick with men and horses, who have tried to 
cross, and lie swallowed in the ooze."* 

This lasted till nightfall. As darkness veiled the awful scene 
the exhausted soldiers dropped upon the ground, and, regardless 
of the dead and of the groans of the wounded, borne heavily 
upon the night air, slept almost side by side. It is appalling to 
reflect upon what a fiend to humanity man has been, as revealed 
in the history of the nations. All the woes of earth combined 
are as nothing compared with the misery which man has inflict- 
ed upon his brother. 

During the night bands of barbarian, half-drunken Cossacks 
ranged the field, plundering the wounded and the dead, friends 
and foes alike, and thrusting their bayonets through those who 
presented any remonstrance, or who might, by any possibility, 
call them to account. Four hundred of these wretches the equal- 
ly merciless Prussians drove into a barn, fastened them in, set 

* Carlyle. 



460 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

fire to the building, and burned them all to ashes. During the 
carnage of this bloody day the Russians lost, in killed, wounded, 
and missing, 21,539. The Prussians lost 11,390, more than one 
third of their number. 

General Fermor availed himself of the darkness in withdraw- 
ing his troops, now numbering but 28,000, a mile w T est from the 
battle-field to a dense forest of firs, called Drewitz Heath. Fred- 
erick arranged his little remaining band of but eighteen thou- 
sand men in two lines, facing the foe. The next morning, Satur- 
day, the 26th, General Fermor sent a request for a truce of three 
days to bury the dead. The reply was, " Your proposal is en- 
tirely inadmissible. The victor will bury the slain." There 
was no serious resumption of the conflict on that day. Both 
parties were alike exhausted, and had alike expended nearly all 
their ammunition. Frederick's hussars had, however, found out 
the position of the Russian baggage train, and had effectually 
plundered a large portion of it. 

Saturday night was very dark. A thick mist mantled the 
landscape. About midnight, the Russians, feigning an artillery 
attack upon a portion of the Prussian lines, commenced a retreat. 
Groping their way through the woods south of Zorndorf, they 
reached the great road to Landsberg, and retreated so rapidly 
that Frederick could annoy them but little. 

Several well-authenticated anecdotes are given respecting the 
conduct of Frederick on this occasion, which illustrate the' vari- 
ous phases in the character of this extraordinary man. The 
evening before the battle of Zorndorf, the king, having completed 
his arrangements for a conflict against vastly unequal numbers, 
upon whose issue were dependent probably both his throne and 
his life, sent for a member of his staff of some literary preten- 
sions, and spent some time in criticising and amending one of the 
poems of Rousseau. Was this an affected display of calmness, 
the result of vanity? Was it an adroit measure to impress the 
officers with a conviction of his own sense of security ? Was it 
an effort to throw off the terrible pressure which was upon his 
mind, as the noble Abraham Lincoln often found it to be a mor- 
al necessity to indulge in a jest even amidst scenes of the great- 
est anguish ? Whatever may have been the motive, the fact is 
worthy of record. 



FREDERICK THE GEEAT. 461 

Immediately after the battle Sir Andrew Mitchell called upon 
the king to congratulate him upon his great victory. General 
Seidlitz, who had led the two decisive cavalry charges, was in 
the royal tent. The king, in reply to the congratulations of the 
English minister, pointed to General Seidlitz and said, 

" Had it not been for him, things would have had a bad look 
by this time." 

The town of Custrin, it will be remembered, was utterly con- 
sumed, being set on fire by the shells of the Russians. The com- 
mandant of the citadel was censured for not having prevented 
the calamity. He immediately sought an interview with the 
king, endeavoring to apologize for his conduct. The king, per- 
haps justly, perhaps very unjustly, interrupted him, saying, 

" I find no fault with you ; the blame is entirely my own in 
having appointed you to such a post." 

The utter ruin of the town of Custrin, and the misery of its 
houseless and starving population, seemed to affect the king 
deeply. To the inhabitants, who clustered around him, he said, 
kindly, 

" My children, I could not come to you sooner, or this calamity 
should not have happened. Have a little patience, and I will 
cause every thing to be rebuilt." 

As has often been mentioned, the carnage of the battle-field 

constitutes by no means the greater part of the miseries of war. 

One of the sufferers from the conflagration of the city of Custrin 

. gives the following graphic account of the scene. It was the 

15th of August, 1758: 

" The enemy threw, such a multitude of bombs and red-hot 
balls into the city that by nine o'clock in the morning it burned, 
with great fury, in three different places. The fire could not be 
extinguished, as the houses were closely built, and the streets 
harrow. The air appeared like a shower of fiery rain and hail. 
The surprised inhabitants had not time to think of any thing 
but of saving their lives by getting into the open fields. 

" I, as well as many others, had hardly time to put on my 
clothes. As I was leading my wife, with a young child in her 
arms, and my other children and servants before me — who were 
almost naked, having, ever since the first fright, run about as 
they got out of bed — the bombs and reel-hot balls fell round 



462 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

about us. The bombs, in their bursting, dashed the houses to 
pieces, and every thing that was in their way. Every body that 
could got out of the town as fast as possible. The crowd of 
naked and in the highest degree wretched people was vastly 
great. 

" Among the women were many of distinction, who had nei- 
ther shoes nor stockings, nor hardly any thing else on, thinking 
only of saving their lives. When I had seen my family in the 
open field, I endeavored to return and save something, if possible, 
but in vain. I could not force my way through the multitude 
of people thronging out at the gate, some few with horses and 
carriages, and others with the sick and bedridden on their backs. 
The bombs and red-hot balls fell so thick that all thought them- 
selves happy if they could but escape with their lives. 

" Many thousands are made miserable, inhabitants as well as 
strangers. Many from the open country and defenseless towns 
in Prussia, Pomerania, and the New Marche had fled hither, with 
their most valuable effects, in hopes of security when the Eus- 
sians entered the Prussian territories ; so that a great many who, 
a little while ago, were possessed of considerable fortunes, are 
now reduced to beggary. On the roads nothing was to be seen 
but misery, and nothing to be heard but such cries and lament- 
ations as were enough to move even the stones. No one knew 
where to get a morsel of bread, nor what to do for farther sub- 
sistence. The fire was so furious that the cannon in the- store 
and artillery houses were all melted. The loaded bombs and 
cartridges for cannon and muskets, with a large quantity of gun- 
powder, went off at once with a most horrible explosion. The 
fury of the enemy fell almost entirely upon . the inhabitants. 
They did not begin to batter the fortifications, except with a few 
shot, till the 17th, after the rest was all destroyed."* 

* London Magazine, vol. xxvii., p. 670. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 463 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Frederick's Attempt to Rescue his Brother. — Captured Dispatches. — Battle of Hochkirch. — 
Defeat and Retreat of Frederick. — Death of Wilhelmina. — Letter to Voltaire. — Rejoicings at 
Vienna. — The Siege of Neisse. — The Siege of Dresden. — Conflagrations and Terror. — The 
Siege raised by Frederick. — Results of the Third Campaign. — Unavailing Efforts for Peace. 
— Despair of Frederick. 

The battle of Zorndorf was the most bloody of the Seven 
Years' War. It is often considered the most furious battle which 
was ever fought. While Frederick was engaged in this arduous 
campaign in the extreme north, driving the Russians from the 
Prussian territory, an Austrian army, ninety thousand strong, 
under General Daun, was endeavoring to reconquer Saxony. 
The Prussian king had left his brother Henry in defense of the 
province, with a small force garrisoned in the city of Dresden. 

On the 2d of September, 1758, Frederick, advancing from the 
smouldering ruins of Custrin, pushed forward his columns by 
forced marches for the rescue of his brother, who was nearly sur- 
rounded by vastly outnumbering foes. While upon this rapid 
march an Austrian courier was captured, with the following dis- 
patch, which he was bearing from General Daun to General Fer- 
mor, whose army of Russians had just been so terribly beaten 
by Frederick upon the field of Zorndorf, but of which fact the 
Austrian general had not yet been apprised : 

"Your excellency does not know that wily enemy, the King 
of Prussia, as well as Ldo. By no means get into a battle with 
him. Cautiously manoeuvre about. Detain him there till I 
have got my stroke in Saxony done. Don't try fighting him. 

"Dau^." 

Frederick, with grim humor characteristic of him, sent back 
the courier with the following response, as if from the Russian 
general, signed Fermor, but in the king's handwriting ; 



464 



FKEDERICK THE GREAT. 



"Your excellency was right to warn me against a cunning en- 
emy whom you know better than I. Here have I tried fighting 
him, and have got beaten. Your unfortunate Fermoe." 

On the 12th of September Frederick dined with his brother 
Henry in Dresden. General Daun, as soon as he heard of the 
approach of the foe whom he so much dreaded, rapidly retreated 




eastward to Stolpen, on the road to Bautzen. Here he intrench- 
ed himself in one of the strongest posts in Germany. As Fred- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 465 

erick, at Dresden, received his supplies from Bautzen, he was 
much embarrassed in having his line of communication thus cut. 
Finding all his efforts vain to provoke Daun to a battle, after 
four weeks of such endeavors, he loaded his baggage trains with 
supplies for nine days, and by a rapid march, brushing away in 
the movement Daun's right flank, and advancing through Baut- 
zen, established himself among the hills of Hochkirch. He had 
thus taken position thirty miles east of General Daun's encamp- 
ment at Stolpen, cutting off his line of supply. 

This movement of Frederick took place on the 1st of October, 
1758. On the 5th, General Daun, who stood in great dread of 
the military ability of his foe, after holding a council of war, 
made a stealthy march, in a dark and rainy night, a little to the 
south of Frederick's encampment, and took a strong position 
about a mile east of him, at Kittlitz, near Lobau. With the ut- 
most diligence he reared intrench inents and palisades to guard 
himself from attack by a foe whom he outnumbered more than 
two to one. He thus again blocked Frederick's direct commu- 
nication with Silesia. 

General Daun's army, numbering ninety thousand men, occu- 
pied very strong positions in a line extending north and south 
about iive miles. On the 10th, Frederick, having obtained the 
needful supplies, resolutely, rashly — but, situated as he was, 
what the world deemed rashness was prudence — advanced with 
but twenty-eight thousand men to assail this foe of ninety thou- 
sand behind his intrenchments. About five miles to the north, 
in the rear of the heights of Weissenberg, Frederick had a re- 
serve of ten or twelve thousand men under General Betzow. 

As the Prussian king brought up his little army to within a 
mile of the lines of General Daun, and ordered the troops to take 
position there, his boldest generals were appalled. It seemed to 
Be courting sure and utter destruction. The king's favorite ad- 
jutant general, Marwitz, ventured to remonstrate against so fear- 
ful a risk. He was immediately ordered under arrest. The line 
was formed while the Austrian cannon were playing incessantly 
upon it. General Betzow, who for some cause had failed to 
seize the heights of Stromberg, was also placed under arrest. 
Thus the king taught all that he would be obeyed implicitly 
and without questioning. 

Go 



4G6 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

General Keith, as he looked upon the long and compact lines 
of General Daun, and saw how apparently easy it would be for 
him, from his commanding position, to annihilate the Prussian 
army, said to the king, sadly, 

" If the Austrians do not attack us here they deserve to be 
hanged." 

The king coolly replied, " We must hope that they are more 
afraid of us than even of the gallows." 

On Friday, the 13th of October, the two hostile armies, sepa- 
rated merely by a brook and a ravine, were within half a mile 
of each other. Daun had manifested great timidity in not ven- 
turing from behind his intrenchments to attack the little band 
of Prussians. Frederick, emboldened by this cowardice on the 
part of his opponent, made his arrangements to assail the Aus- 
trians in a secret attack before the dawn of the morning of Sat- 
urday, the 14th. In the mean time, Daun, probably a little 
ashamed of being held at bay by so small a force, formed his 
plan to surround and destroy the whole Prussian army. It is 
generally conceded by military critics that the plan was admira- 
bly conceived, and would have been triumphantly executed but 
for the singular ability displayed by Frederick. 

General Daun directed the energies of his ninety thousand 
troops upon the right wing of the Prussians, which could not 
number more than twenty thousand men. As soon as it was 
dark on Friday night, the 13th, he sent thirty thousand men, un- 
der guides familiar with every rod of the country, by a circui- 
tous route, south of the Prussian lines, through forest roads, to 
take position on the west of the Prussian right wing, just in its 
rear. General Daun himself accompanied this band of picked 
men. 

At three o'clock of a dark and misty morning, the Austrians 
from the west, the south, and the east rushed upon the sleeping 
Prussians. At the same time, an attack was made upon the left 
wing of the Prussians, which was a feint to bewilder them, and 
to prevent re-enforcements from being sent to the right wing. 
For five hours there was a scene of tumult, confusion, and horror 
which can neither be described nor imagined. The morning 
was dark, the fog dense, and the Prussians, though ever on the 
alert, were taken by surprise. No one in the army of Frederick 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



467 




thought either of running or of surrendering. It was a hand-to- 
hand fight, with bayonets, and sabres, and butts of muskets. 
Marshal Keith, after receiving two bullet- wounds which he did 
not regard, was shot through the heart. 

As the morning dawned it was manifest to Frederick that the 
battle was lost, and that there was no salvation for the remnant 
of his troops but in a precipitate retreat. He had lost a hun- 
dred pieces of cannon, nearly all of his tents and camp furniture, 
and over eight thousand of his brave troops were either dead or 



468 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

captive. Though the Austrians had lost about the same num- 
ber of men, they had still over eighty thousand left. 

With wonderful skill, Frederick conducted his retreat about 
four miles to the northwest. Here lie took a strong position at 
Doberschutz, and again bade defiance to the Austrians. Slowly, 
proudly, and in perfect order he retired, as if merely shifting his 
ground. His cavalry was drawn up as on parade, protecting his 
baggage -wagons as they defiled through the pass of Drehsa. 
The Austrians gazed quietly upon the movement, not venturing 
to renew the attack by daylight upon suck desperate men. 

Though, as we may see from Frederick's private correspond- 
ence, he suffered terribly in these hours of adversity and peril, 
he assumed in public a tranquil and even a jocose air. Meeting 
De Catt upon the evening of that dreadful day, he approached 
him, smiling, and with theatric voice and gesture declaimed a 
passage from Kacine, the purport of which was, " Well, here you 
see me not a conqueror, but vanquished." 

While on the retreat, one of his aids approached him, and the 
king, with a smile, said, " Daun has played me a slippery trick 
to-day." 

" I have seen it," was the reply ; " but it is only a scratch, 
which your majesty will soon heal again." 

" Do you think so ?" inquired the king. 

" Not only I," the aid replied, " but the whole army, firmly be- 
lieve it of your majesty." 

"You are quite right," responded the king. "We will man- 
age Daun. What I lament is the number of brave men who 
have died this morning." 

The next day he remarked, u Daun has let us out of check- 
mate. The game is not lost yet. We will rest ourselves here 
for a few days, then we will go to Silesia and deliver Neisse. 
But where are all your guns V] he said, playfully, to an artillery- 
man, who stood, vacant, on parade. 

" Your majesty," replied the gunner, " the devil stole them all 
last night." 

" Ah !" said the king, gayly, " we must have them back from 
him again." 

The fourth day after this dreadful defeat the king received 
the tidings of the death of Wilhelmina. It was apparently the 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 469 

heaviest blow lie had ever encountered. The anguish which her 
death caused him he did not attempt to conceal. In a business 
letter to Prince Henry we find this burst of feeling : 

" Great God ! my sister of Baireuth, my noble Wilhelmina, 
dead ; died in the very hours while we were fighting here." 

The king, in a letter to Voltaire upon this occasion, writes : 

" It will have been easy for you to conceive my grief when 
you reflect upon the loss I have had. There are some misfor- 
tunes which are reparable by constancy and courage, but there 
are others against which all the firmness with which one can arm 
one's self, and all the reasonings of philosophers, are only vain 
and useless attempts at consolation.* Of the latter kind is the 
one with which my unhappy fate overwhelms me, at a moment 
the most embarrassing and the most anxious of my whole life. I 
have not been so sick as you have heard. My only complaints 
are colics, sometimes hemorrhoidal, and sometimes nephritic. 

"If it had depended upon me, I would willingly have devoted 
myself to that death which those maladies sooner or later bring 
upon one, in order to save and prolong the life of her whose eyes 
are now closed. I beseech you never to forget her. Collect all 
your powers to raise a monument to her honor. You need only 
do her justice. Without any way abandoning the truth, she will 
afford you an ample and beautiful subject. I wish you more re- 
pose and happiness than falls to my lot. Frederick.'^ 

The court at Vienna received with transports of joy the tid- 
ings of the victory of Hochkirch. The pope was greatly elated. 
He regarded the battle as one between the Catholic and Prot- 
estant powers. The holy father, Clement XIIL, sent a letter of 
congratulation to. Marshal Daun, together with a sword and hat, 
both blessed by his holiness. The occurrence excited the deri- 
sion of Frederick, who was afterward accustomed to designate 
his opponent as " the blessed general with the papal hat." Fred- 
erick remained at Doberschiitz ten days. During this time his 
brother Henry joined him from Dresden with six thousand foot 

* This confession of the king is worthy of notice. His philosophy afforded him no consolation 
in these hours of anguish. It is faith in Christ alone which can " take from death its sting, and 
from the grave its victory." t Correspondance de Voltaire avec le Roi de Prusse. 



470 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

and horse. This raised his force to a little above thirty thousand 
men. General Finck was left in command of the few Prussian 
troops who remained for the defense of the capital of Saxony. 

The Austrian general, flushed with victory, at the head of 
eighty thousand troops, encamped in strong positions a few miles 
east of Frederick, on the road to Neisse, in Silesia. Narrowly he 
watched the movements of his Prussian majesty, but he did not 
venture to molest him. Neisse was at that time closely besieged 
by the Austrians. It would inevitably soon fall into their hands 
unless Frederick could march to its succor. The great strategic 
object of the Austrian commander was so to block up the road 
as to prevent the advance of the Prussian troops. Frederick, de- 
spising the inactivity of his cautious foe, said to his brother, 

" Daun has thrown up his cards, so the game is not yet lost. 
Let us repose ourselves for some days, and then go to the assist- 
ance of Neisse."* 

In the mean while, Marshal Daun was so confident that Fred- 
erick, with but thirty thousand men, could not drive him from 
his intrenchments, guarded by eighty thousand veteran troops, 
that he wrote to General Harsch, who was conducting the siege 
of Neisse, 

" Go on quietly with your siege. I have the king within my 
grasp. He is cut off from Silesia except by attacking me. If he 
does that, I hope to give you a good account of what happens."f 

On Tuesday evening, October 24, 1758, Frederick, in a ra]}id 
and secret march, protected by darkness, pushed his whole army 
around the right wing of the Austrian encampment, and took a 
very strong position at Reichenbach, in the rear of Marshal Daun, 
and on the road to Neisse. The Austrian general, astonished at 
this bold and successful manoeuvre, now found that the march 
of Frederick to Neisse could by no possibility be prevented ex- 
cept by attacking him on his own chosen ground. This he did 
not dare to do. He therefore resolved to make a rush with his 
whole army to the west for the capture of Dresden. Frederick, 
in the mean time, by forced marches, was pressing forward to the 
east for the relief of Neisse. Thus the two armies were flying 
from each other in opposite directions. 

* Archenholtz, Histoire de la Guerre de Sept Ans. 
t Histoire de la Guerre de Sept Ans, par Frederic II. 



EEEDEEICK THE GEEAT. 471 

When the Austrian general conducting the siege at Neisse 
heard of the rapid approach of Frederick, he, in consternation, 
blew up many of his works, abandoned several guns, and, on the 
6th of November, fled with his army over the hills to the south, 
to take shelter in Austria. Frederick triumphantly entered 
Neisse, and, having driven the Austrians from every outpost, 
commenced, with a recruited army, his return march to Dresden. 
The more slow-footed Daun did not reach Dresden till the 8th 
of the month. The city, outside of the walls, was crowded with 
the dwellings of the more respectable citizens, and the beautiful 
mansions of the wealthy. The King of Poland was Elector of 
Saxony, and was in alliance with Austria. For the Austrian 
commander to pursue any measure which should lead to the de- 
struction, in whole or in part, of this beautiful capital, would in- 
flict a terrible blow upon the subjects of the ally of Austria. 

As General Daun approached the city, the Prussian general 
who had been left in command of the small garrison there sent 
word to him that, should he menace Dresden with his forces, the 
Prussian commander would be under the necessity of setting fire 
to the suburbs, as a measure of self-defense. Daun, expostulating 
vehemently against so cruel an act, regardless of the menace, ap- 
proached the city on the 9th of November, and at midnight com- 
menced rearing his batteries for the bombardment. In the mean 
time the Prussian general had filled many of the largest houses 
with combustibles. As the clock struck three in the morning 
the torch was applied. The unhappy inhabitants had but three 
hours' notice that their houses were to be surrendered to destruc- 
tion. Instantly the flames burst forth with terrific fury in all 
directions. Sir Andrew Mitchel, who witnessed the conflagra- 
tion, writes : 

" The whole suburb seemed on a blaze. Nay, you would have 
said the whole town 'was environed in flames. I will not de- 
scribe to your lordship the horror, the terror, the confusion of 
this night ; the wretched inhabitants running with their furni- 
ture toward the great garden. All Dresden, in appearance, girt 
with flames, ruin, and smoke." 

The army of General Daun, with its re-enforcements, amounted 
to one hundred thousand men. The Prussian garrison in the 
city numbered but ten thousand. The Prussian officer then in 



472 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

command, General Schmettau, emboldened by the approach of 
Frederick, repelled all proposals for capitulation. 

"I will defend myself," he said, "by the known rules of war 
and honor to the last possible moment." 

On the 15th of November Frederick arrived at Lauban, with- 
in a hundred miles of Dresden. General Daun immediately 
raised the siege and. retired into Bohemia. Frederick marched 
triumphantly into the city. Thus, as the extraordinary result of 
the defeat at Hochkirch, Frederick, by the exhibition of military 
ability which astonished Europe, regained Neisse, retained Dres- 
den, and swept both Silesia and Saxony entirely free of his foes. 
Frederick remained in Dresden about a month. He then retired 
to Breslau, in Silesia, for winter quarters. The winter was a very 
sad one to him. Private griefs and public calamities weighed 
heavily upon his heart* Though during the year he had de- 
stroyed a hundred thousand of his enemies, he had lost thirty 
thousand of his own brave little band. It was almost impossi- 
ble, by any energies of conscription, to replace this waste of war. 
His treasury was exhausted. Though he wrenched from the 
wretched Saxons every dollar which military rapacity and vio- 
lence could extort from them, still they were so impoverished by 
the long and desolating struggle that but little money could be 
found in the almost empty purses of a beggared people. Anoth- 
er campaign was soon to open, in which the allies, with almost 
unlimited resources of men and treasure, would again come crowd- 
ing upon him in all directions in overpowering numbers. 

In a letter to his friend Lord Marischal, dated Dresden, No- 
vember 23, 1758, just after the retreat of Daun into Bohemia 
from Saxony, Frederick writes sadly, 

" There is nothing left for us, my clear lord, but to mingle and 
blend our weeping for the losses we have had. If my head were 
a fountain of tears, it would not suffice for the grief I feel. 

" Our campaign is over. And there is nothing come of it on 
the one side or the other but the loss of a great many worthy 
people, the misery of a great many poor soldiers crippled forever, 

* "The loss of his Wilhelmina, had there heen no other grief, has darkened all his life to Fred- 
erick. Readers are not prepared for the details of grief we could give, and the settled gloom of 
mind they indicate. A loss irreparable and immeasurable ; the light of life, the one heart that 
loved him, gone. All winter he dwells internally on the sad matter, though soon falling silent 
on.it to others." — Carlyle, vol. v., p. 318. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 473 

the ruin of some provinces, and the ravage, pillage, and confla- 
gration of some flourishing towns. These are exploits which 
make humanity suffer; sad fruits of the wickedness and ambi- 
tion of certain people in power, who sacrifice every thing to their 
unbridled passions. I w T ish you, mon cher milord, nothing that 
has the least resemblance to my destiny, and every thing that is 
wanting to it." 

Thus ended in clouds, darkness, and woe the third campaign 
of the Seven Years' War. The winter was employed by both 
parties in preparing for a renewal of the struggle. As the spring 
opened the allies had in the field such a military array as Eu- 
rope had never seen before. Three hundred thousand men ex- 
tended in a cordon of posts from the Giant Mountains, near the 
borders of Silesia, to the ocean. In the north, also, Kussia had 
accumulated her vast armies for vigorous co-operation with the 
southern troops. All the leading Continental powers — France, 
Austria, Russia, Sweden, and the states of the German Empire — 
were combined against Prussia. England alone was the ineffi- 
cient ally of Frederick. Small sums of money were loaned him 
from the British cabinet; and the court of St. James, hostile in 
heart to the Prussian king, co-operated w^ith him only so far as 
was deemed essential for the promotion of British interests. 

Perhaps never before was a monarch surrounded by difficul- 
ties so great. The energy and sagacity Frederick displayed have 
never been surpassed, if ever equaled. 

It was a dreary winter to Frederick in Breslau. Sad, silent, 
and often despairing, he was ever inflexibly resolved to struggle 
till the last possible moment, and, if need be, to bury himself be- 
neath the ruins of his kingdom. All his tireless energies he de- 
voted to the Herculean work before him. No longer did he af- 
fect gayety or seek recreations. Secluded, solitary, sombre, he 
took counsel of no one. In the possession of absolute power, he 
issued his commands as with the authority of a god. 

Frederick made several unavailing efforts during the winter 
to secure peace. He was weary of a Avar which threatened his ut- 
ter destruction. The French were also weary of a struggle in 
which they encountered but losses and disgraces. England had 
but little to hope for from the conflict, and would gladly see the 
exhaustive struggle brought to a close. 



474 FKEDERICK THE GREAT. 

" Many men in all nations long for peace. But there are three 
women at the top of the world who do not. Their wrath, vari- 
ous in quality, is great in quantity, and disasters do the reverse 
of appeasing it."* 

Of these three women who then held the destinies of Europe 
in their hands, one only, Maria Theresa, in the estimation of the 
public, had good cause for war. Frederick was undeniably a 
highway robber, seeking to plunder her. She was heroically, 
nobly struggling in self-defense. The guilty Duchess of Pompa- 
dour, who, having the entire control of the infamous king, Louis 
XV., was virtually the Empress of France, stung by an insult 
from Frederick, did not hesitate to deluge Europe in blood, that 
she might take the vengeance of a " woman scorned" upon her 
foe. Catharine II., Empress of Russia, who in moral pollution 
rivaled the most profligate of kings — whom Carlyle satirizes as 
" a kind of she Louis XIV." — also stung by one of Frederick's 
witty and bitter epigrams, was mainly impelled by personal 
pique to push forth her armies into the bloody field. 

The impartial student of history must admit that, were the 
government of the world taken from the hands of men, and 
placed in the hands of women, still the anticipated millennium 
of righteousness and peace might be far distant. 

In the following letter, which Frederick wrote at this time 
to his friend D'Argens, he unbosoms his sorrows with unusual 
frankness. The letter was dated Breslau, March 1, 1759 : 

"I have passed my winter like a Carthusian monk. I dine 
alone. I spend my life in reading and writing, and I do not sup. 
When one is sad, it becomes, at last, too burdensome to hide one's 
grief continually. It is better to give way to it than to carry 
one's gloom into society. Nothing solaces me but the vigorous 
application required in steady and continuous labor. This dis- 
traction does force one to put away painful ideas while it lasts. 
But alas ! no sooner is the work done than these fatal compan- 
ions present themselves again, as if livelier than ever. Mauper- 
tuis was right ; the sum of evil does certainly surpass that of 
good. But to me it is all one. I have almost nothing more to 
lose; and my few remaining days — what matters it much of 
what complexion they be ?" 

* Carlyle, vol. v., p. 314. 



FKEDERICK THE GREAT. 475 

During this dismal winter of incessant and almost despairing 
labor the indefatigable king wrote several striking treatises on 
military affairs. It is manifest that serious thoughts at times 
occupied his mind. He doubtless reflected that if there were a 
God who took any cognizance of human affairs, there must be 
somewhere responsibility to Him for the woes with which these 
wars were desolating humanity. To the surprise of De Catt, the 
king presented him one evening with a sermon upon " The Last 
Judgment," from his own pen. He also put upon paper his 
thoughts " On the new kind of tactics necessary with the Aus- 
trians and their allies." He seems himself to have been sur- 
prised that he had been able so long to resist such overpowering 
numbers. In allusion to the allies he writes : 

" To whose continual sluggishness and strange want of con- 
cert — to whose incoherency of movements, languor of execution, 
and other enormous faults, we have owed, with some excuse for 
our own faults, our escape from destruction hitherto."* 



CHAPTER XXX. 

FOURTH CAMPAIGN OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 

Desperate Exertions of Frederick. — Aid from England. — Limited Eesources. — Opening of the 
Campaign. — Disgraceful Conduct of Voltaire. — Letter to Voltaire. — An Act of Desperation. 
— Letter to Count Finckenstein. — Frankfort taken by the Prussians. — Terrible Battle of 
Kunersdorf. — Anguish of Frederick. — The Disastrous Retreat. — Melancholy Dispatch. — 
Contemplating Suicide. — Collecting the Wrecks of the Army. — Consternation in Berlin. — 
Letters to D'Argens. — Wonderful Strategical Skill. — Literary Efforts of the King. 

By the most extraordinary exertions, which must have almost 
depopulated his realms of all the young men and those of mid- 
dle age, Frederick succeeded in so filling up his depleted ranks 
as to have in the opening spring of 1759 two hundred thousand 
men in field and garrison. Indeed, regardless of all the laws of 
nations, he often compelled the soldiers and other men of con- 
quered provinces to enlist in his armies. How he, in his pover- 
ty, obtained the pecuniary resources requisite to the carrying on 
of such a war, is to the present day a matter of amazement. 

England furnished him with a subsidy of about four million 
dollars. He immediately melted this coin, gold and silver, and 
adulterated it with about half copper, thus converting his four 

* (Euvres de Frederic, t. xix. , p. 56. 



476 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

millions into nominally eight millions. But a few weeks of such 
operations as he was engaged in would swallow up all this. 
The merciless conscription, grasping nearly every able-bodied 
man, destroyed nearly all the arts of industry. The Prussian 
realms, thus impoverished by war's ravages and taxation, could 
furnish the king with very meagre supplies. When the king 
invaded any portion of the territory of the allies, he wrenched 
from the beggared people every piece of money which violence 
or terror could extort. Wealthy merchants were thrown into 
prison, and fed upon bread and water until they yielded. The 
most terrible severities were practiced to extort contributions 
from towns which had been stripped and stripped again. Still 
violence could wrench but little from the skinny hand of beg- 
gary. These provinces, swept by war's surges year after year, 
were in the most deplorable state of destitution and misery. 

From the schedule which Frederick has given of his resources, 
it seems impossible that he could have raised more than about 
fifteen million dollars annually, even counting his adulterated 
coin at the full value. How, with this sum, he could have suc- 
cessfully confronted all combined Europe, is a mystery which 
has never yet been solved. It was the great object of both par- 
ties in this terrible conflict to destroy every thing in the enemy's 
country which could by any possibility add to military power. 
All the claims of humanity were ignored. The starvation of 
hundreds of thousands of peasants — men, women, and children 
— was a matter not to be taken into consideration. The French 
minister, in Paris, wrote to Marshal De Contades on the 5th of 
October, 1758, 

"You must make a desert of Westphalia. With regard to the 
countries ofLippe and Padeborn, as these are very fertile prov- 
inces, you must take great care to destroy every thing in them 
without exception." 

Early in the spring of 1759 the Prussian king had gathered 
the main body of his troops in fortresses and strong positions in 
the vicinity of Landshut, on the southwestern frontier of Silesia. 
The enemy, under General Daun, faced him, in longer and denser 
lines, equally well intrenched. At the same time, powerful bands 
of the allies were in various parts of Europe, menacing the do- 
mains of Frederick at every vulnerable point. The allies dread- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 477 

ed the prowess of their foe. Frederick was compelled to caution 
by the exhaustless numbers of his opponents. Thus for many 
weeks neither party entered upon any decisive action. There 
was, however, an almost incessant series of fierce and bloody 
skirmishes. 

The ability which Frederick displayed in striking his enemies 
where they would most keenly feel the infliction, and in ward- 
ing off the blows they attempted in return, excited then the sur- 
prise of Europe, and has continued to elicit the astonishment of 
posterity. It would but weary the reader to attempt a descrip- 
tion of these conflicts at the outposts, terrible as they often were. 

During this time, in May, the king wrote a very bitter and sa- 
tirical ode against Louis XV. — " the plaything of the Pompa- 
dour," " polluted with his amours," " and disgracefully surrender- 
ing the government of his realms to chance." The ode he sent 
to Voltaire. The unprincipled poet, apprehending that the ode 
might come to light, and that he might be implicated, treacher- 
ously sent it to the prime minister, the Duke De Choiseul, to be 
shown to the king. At the same time, he wrote to Frederick 
that he had burned the ode. In the account which Voltaire 
himself gives of this disgraceful transaction, he writes : 

" The packet had been opened. The king would think I was 
guilty of high treason, and I should be in disgrace with Madame 
De Pompadour. I was obliged, in order to prevent my ruin, to 
make known to the court the character and conduct of their en- 
emy. 

" I knew that the Duke De Choiseul would content himself 
with persuading the. King of France that the King of Prussia 
was an irreconcilable enemy, whom it was therefore necessary, if 
possible, to annihilate. 

"I wrote to Frederick that his ode was beautiful, but that he 
had better not make it public, lest it should close all the avenues 
to a reconciliation with the King of France, incense him irreme- 
diably, and thus force him to strain every nerve in vengeance. 

" I added that my niece had burned his ode from fear that it 
should be imputed to me. He believed me and thanked me ; 
not, however, without some reproaches for having burned the 
best verses he had ever made."* 

* Memoires pour servir a la Vie de M. De Voltaire, Ecrit par Lui-meme. 



478 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

The latter part of June, an army of a hundred thousand Bus- 
sians, having crossed the Vistula, was concentrated, under Gen- 
eral Soltikof, at Posen, on the Biver Warta, in Poland. They 
were marching from the northeast to attack the Prussian forces 
near Landshut in their rear. General Daun, with a still larger 
force of Austrians, was confronting Frederick on the southwest. 
The plan of the allies was to crush their foe between these two 
armies. Frederick had lost the ablest of his generals. The 
young men who were filling their places were untried. 

The Eussians, triumphantly advancing, entered Silesia, and 
reached Crossen, on the Oder, within a hundred miles of Fred- 
erick's encampment. 

Some trifling unavailing efforts had been made for peace. In 
reply to a letter from Voltaire, alluding to this subject, Freder- 
ick wrote, under date of 2d July, 1759 : 

" Asking me for peace is indeed a bitter joke. It is to Louis 
XV. you must address yourself, or to his Amboise in petticoats* 
But these people have their heads filled with ambitious projects. 
They wish to be the sovereign arbiters of sovereigns. That is 
what persons of my way of thinking will by no means put up 
with. I like peace as much as you could wish, but I want it 
good, solid, and honorable. Socrates or Plato would have 
thought as I do on this subject had they found themselves in 
the accursed position which is mine in the world. 

" Think you there is any pleasure in living this dog's life, in 
seeing and causing the butchery of people you know nothing of, 
in losing daily those you do know and love, in seeing perpetual- 
ly your reputation exposed to the caprices of chance, passing 
year after year in disquietudes and apprehensions, in risking 
without end your life and your fortune % 

" I know right well the value of tranquillity, the sweets of so- 
ciety, the charms of life. I love to be happy as much as any one 
whatever. But, much as I desire these blessings, I will not pur- 
chase them by baseness and infamies. Philosophy enjoins us to 
do our duty faithfully, to serve our country at the price of our 
blood, of our repose, and of every sacrifice which can be required 
of us."f 

Soon after this Frederick dispatched a young and impetuous 

* The Duchess of Pompadour. f GZuvres de Frederic, t. xxiii. , p. 53. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 479 

officer, General Wedell, invested with dictatorial powers, at the 
head of twenty-six thousand men, to attack the Russian army, 
at every hazard, and arrest its march. The heroic little band of 
Prussians met the Russians at Ztillichau. One of General We- 
dell's officers remonstrated against the attack. 

" The risk is too great," said he ; " Soltikof has seventy thou- 
sand men, and no end of artillery. We have but twenty-six 
thousand, and know not that we can bring a single gun to where 
Soltikof is." 

Still the order was given for the assault. The Prussians 
plunged into the dense ranks of their foes^ regardless of being 
outnumbered nearly three to one. A terrible battle was fought. 
General Wedell was overpowered and beaten. He retreated 
across the Oder, having lost six thousand men in killed, wound- 
ed, and prisoners. The victorious Russians did not pursue him. 
They marched down the river to Frankfort, where they effected 
a junction with other troops, giving them an effective force of 
ninety-six thousand fighting men. 

Frederick received the disastrous news on the 24th of July, 
the day after the calamity. In the exercise of an unusual spirit 
of forbearance, he sent word to the defeated general, " It is not 
your fault ; I dreaded something of the kind." The king's broth- 
er Henry was in command of a few thousand men near Bautzen, 
in Saxony. Frederick wrote to him to forward his troops im- 
mediately, so as to form a union with the retreating army under 
WedelL Henry himself was to repair to the vicinity of Land- 
shut, and take command of the army which was to be left in that 
vicinity confronting General Daun. The king took about thirty 
thousand picked troops, and hurried to the north to gather up 
by the way the troops of Henry and of Wedell, and with that 
combined force of forty-eight thousand men make a new attack 
upon the ninefcy-six thousand Russians.* 

It was an act of desperation. The king fully appreciated its 
peril. But the time had long since passed when he could rely 
upon the ordinary measures of prudence. In despair was his 
only hope. 

On the 29th of July the king joined his brother Henry at Sa- 
gan, on the Bober, about sixty miles above or south of Frankfort. 

* Histoire de la Guerre de Sept Ans, par Frederic II. 



480 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

The marches which had been effected by the king and his broth- 
er were the most rapid which had then ever been heard of. 
Greatly perplexed by the inexplicable movements of the Rus- 
sians, the king pressed on till he effected a junction w T ith the rem- 
nant of Wedell's defeated army, near Mullrose, within twelve 
miles of Frankfort. He reached this place on the 3d of August. 
To Count Finckenstein he wrote : 

" I am just arrived here after cruel and frightful marchings. 
There is nothing desperate in all that. I believe the noise and 
disquietude this hurly-burly has caused will be the worst of it. 
Show this letter to every body, that it may be known that the 
state is not undefended. I have made about one thousand pris- 
oners from Haddick.* All his meal-wagons have been taken. 
Finck,f I believe, will keep an eye on him. This is all I can say. 
To-morrow I march to within two leagues of Frankfort. Katte 
must instantly send me two hundred tons of meal and one hun- 
dred bakers. I am very tired. For six nights I have not closed 
an eye. Farewell. F." 

The Russians, with empty meal-wagons and starving soldiers, 
had taken possession of Frankfort-on-the-Oder on the 29th of 
July. The city contained twelve thousand inhabitants. The 
ransom which the Russian general demanded to save the city 
from pillage by the Cossacks was four hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars. Pillage by the Cossacks ! ~No imagination can 
conceive the horrors of such an event. Nearly one hundred 
thousand men, frenzied with intoxication, brutal in their habits, 
restrained by no law, would inflict every outrage which fiends 
could conceive of. Well might fathers and mothers, sons and 
daughters, turn pale and feel the blood curdle in their veins at 
the thought. Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars ransom ! 
That was nearly forty dollars for each individual, man, woman, 
and child ! Compliance with the demand was impossible. 
Frankfort, in its impoverishment, could by no possibility raise 
a tenth part of the sum. Dreadful was the consternation. There 
was no relenting ; the money or the pillage ! 

* General Haddick was in command of an Austrian force marching to join the Russians. 
Frederick had surprised one of his detachments. 

t General Finck, one of the most efficient of Frederick's generals, to whom we shall often 
hereafter refer. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



481 



With the utmost exertions, inspired by terror, thirty thousand 
dollars were at length raised. The Russian general, Soltikof, 
naturally a humane man, seeing, at the close of a week of frantic 
exertions on the part of the magistrates of Frankfort, the impos- 
sibility of extorting the required sum, took the thirty thousand 
dollars, and kept his barbarian hordes encamped outside the gates. 

Frankfort is on the west side of the Oder. The Russian army 
was encamped on the eastern side of the river. The force col- 
lected there consisted of about seventy-eight thousand Russians 
and eighteen thousand Austrians. Frederick had, by great exer- 
tions, gathered fifty thousand troops to attack them. He was 
approaching Frankfort from the southwest. In a secret mid- 
night march he crossed the river by bridges of boats some miles 
north of the city, near Custrin. At four o'clock in the morning 
of the 11th of August his troops had all accomplished the pas- 




FREDERICK CKOSSING THE ODER. 

Hh 



482 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

sage of the stream, and, to the surprise of the Russians, were 
marching down upon them from the north. 

Vastly superior as was the Russian army in numbers, General 
Soltikof did not venture to advance to attack his terrible foe. 
He had selected a very strong position on a range of eminences 
about one hundred feet high, running for several miles in an east- 
erly direction from the river. Upon this ridge, which was called 
" the Heights of Kunersdorf," the Russian general had intrenched 
himself with the utmost care. The surrounding country was 
full of bogs, and sluggish streams, and a scraggy growth of tough 
and thorny bushes, almost impenetrable. 

Had the Prussian troops been placed on those heights, behind 
that formidable array of ramparts, and palisades, and abatis, they 
could with ease have repelled the assaults of three or four times 
their number. But now they were to undertake the desperate 
enterprise of advancing to the assault under the greatest disad- 
vantages, with one to attack where there were two to defend. 
Frederick rapidly advanced from crossing the stream, and the 
same evening, Saturday, August 11th, encamped at Bischofsee, at 
the distance of about two miles to the northeast of the intrenched 
camp of his foes. The king, accompanied by a small escort, rode 
forward to the knolls of Trettin, and anxiously surveyed with 
his glass the fearful array of his foes in their long, compact, well- 
defended lines, arranged in an elongated irregular parallelogram. 

About three o'clock the next morning, Sunday, August 12th, 
Frederick's army, in two columns, was again in motion. By a 
slightly circuitous march through the dense forest the king placed 
his troops in position to approach from the southeast, so as to 
attack the left flank of the enemy, being the northern extremity 
of the parallelogram. 

I shall not attempt to describe the battle which ensued — so 
bloody, so disastrous to the Prussians. It was, like all other des- 
perate battles, a scene of inconceivable confusion, tumult, and 
horror. At eight o'clock in the morning, General Finck (who 
was in command of the right wing of the Prussians) was in po- 
sition to move upon the extreme northern point of attack. It 
was not until half past eleven that Frederick, in command of the 
main body of the army, was ready to make a co-operative assault 
from the east. At the point of attack the Russians had seventy- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 4$3 

two cannons in battery. The Prussians opened ujDon them with 
sixty guns. Teinpleton describes the cannonade as the loudest 
w T hich he had yet ever heard. 

After half an hour of rapid and terrific fire, the Prussian troops 
were ordered to advance and storm the works of the foe on the 
Miihlberg Hill. Like wolves in the chase, these men of iron 
nerves rushed forward through torrents of grape-shot and mus- 
ket-shot, which covered their path with the dead. In ten min- 
utes they were in possession of the hill-top, with all its batteries. 
The left wing of the Russian army was thrown into a maelstrom 
whirl of disorder and destruction. One hundred and eighty of 
the artillery pieces of the enemy fell into the hands of the victors. 

Frederick was overjoyed. He regarded the day as his own, 
and the Russian army as at his mercy. He sent a dispatch to 
anxious Berlin, but sixty miles distant : " The Russians are beat- 
en. Rejoice with me." It was one of the hottest of August 
days, without a breath of wind. Nearly every soldier of the 
Prussian army had been brought into action against the left wing 
only of the foe. After a long march and an exhausting fight, 
they were perishing with thirst. For twelve hours many of them 
had been without water. Panting with heat, thirst, and exhaus- 
tion, they were scarcely capable of any farther efforts. 

Just then eighteen thousand fresh Russian troops advanced 
upon them in solid phalanx from their centre and their right 
wing. It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon. The fugi- 
tive Russians were rallied. With new impetuosity the re-en- 
forced band hurled itself upon the Prussians. They speedily re- 
gained their hundred and eighty guns, and ojiened upon the 
ranks of Frederick such torrents of grape-shot as no flesh and 
blood could endure. Huge gaps were torn through his lines. 
His men recoiled, whirled round, and were driven pell-mell from 
' the hill. 

Thrice Frederick in person led the charge against the advan- 
cing foe. He had three horses shot under him. A gold snuff- 
box in his pocket was flattened by a bullet. His friends en- 
treated him not thus to peril a life upon which every thing de- 
pended. He was deaf to all remonstrances. It is manifest that, 
in his despair, he sought a soldiers grave. 

On came the Russians in ever-increasing numbers. Freder- 



484 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ick's heavy artillery, each piece drawn by twelve horses, could 
not be brought forward through the bogs, and the entangling 
woods, and over the rugged heights. Though the Prussians 
fought with all the energies mortal valor could inspire, and 
though the king flew from post to post of peril and of death, an- 
imating his troops by voice and gesture, and by his own reckless 
courage, it was all in vain. Hope soon died in all hearts. The 
king was heard despairingly to exclaim, " Is there not one bullet 
which can reach me, then 3" 

Frederick had seen many dark days before, but never one so 
dark as this. In the frenzy of his exertions to retrieve the lost 
battle, he cried out to his soldiers, his eyes being flooded with 
tears, " Children, do not forsake me, your king, your father, in this 
pinch !" The retreat became a flight. In endeavoring to cross 
the little stream called the Hen-Floss, there was such crowding 
and jamming at the bridges that the Prussians were compelled 
to leave one hundred and sixty-five guns of various calibre be- 
hind them. Had the Russians pursued with any vigor, scarcely 
a man of the Prussian army could have escaped. But General 
Soltikof stood in such fear of his opponent, who had often wrest- 
ed victory out of defeat, that he attempted no pursuit. 

In broken bands the Prussians retreated down by the way of 
Oetscher to the bridges at Goritz, where they had crossed the 
Oder, and where their heavy baggage was stationed. Frederick 
was among the last to quit the fatal field. As a swarm of Cos- 
sacks approached the spot where he stood, a party of his friends 
charged them fiercely, cutting to the right and left, and held 
them for a moment at bay. One of Frederick's adjutants seized 
the bridle of his horse, and galloped off with the unresisting 
monarch. 

At the bridges Frederick found but three thousand men of 
his late army. The huts around were filled with the wounded 
and the dying, presenting an aspect of misery which, in these 
hours of terrible defeat, appalled his majesty. In one of these 
huts, surrounded by mutilated bodies, groans, and ^leath, Freder- 
ick wrote the following dispatch to his minister (Finckenstein) 
at Berlin. It was dated Oetscher, August 12, 1759 : 

" I attacked the enemy this morning about eleven. We beat 



FEEDEEICK THE GEEAT. 



485 




BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF, AUGUST 12, 1759. 

i a a, Russian Army. bb. Austrians, under Loudon, cc. Russian Abatis, d. Russian Wagenburg. ee. 
Position of Prussian Army Evening of 11th. ff. Vanguard, under Finck. g. Prussian Heavy Baggage. 
h. A ttack of Prussian Grenadiers, i i. Prussian main Army, k k. Finctfs Line of A ttack. 



him back to the Jews' Church-yard, near Frankfort.* All my 
troops came into action, and have done wonders. I reassembled 
them three times. At length I was myself nearly taken prison- 
er, and we had to quit the field. My coat is riddled with bul- 
lets. Two horses were killed under me.f My misfortune is 
that I am still alive. Our loss is very considerable. Of an army 
of forty-eight thousand men, I have at this moment, while I write, 
not more than three thousand together. I am no longer master 
of my forces. 



* This was a mistake. Frederick had probably been misinformed. 

t There were three horses shot under Frederick ; but from the third the king dismounted be- 
fore he fell. 



486 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" In Berlin you will do well to think of your safety. It is a 
great calamity. I will not survive it. The consequences of this 
battle will be worse than the battle itself. I have no resources 
more ; and, to confess the truth, I hold all for lost. I will not sur- 
vive the destruction of my country. Farewell forever. F." 

Probably the reader will infer from the above letter that the 
king felt that the hour had come for him to die, and that he in- 
tended to resort to that most consummate act of folly and cow- 
ardice — suicide. He had always avowed this to be his intention 
in the last resort. He had urged his sister Wilhelmina to imitate 
his example in this respect, and not to survive the destruction 
of their house. Ruin now seemed inevitable. In the battle of 
Kunersdorf Frederick had lost, in killed and wounded, nineteen 
thousand men, including nearly all the officers of distinction, and 
also one hundred and sixty pieces of artillery. The remainder 
of his army was so dispersed that it could not be rallied to pre- 
sent any opposition to the foe. 

Though General Soltikof had lost an equal number of men, he 
was still at the head of nearly eighty thousand troops flushed 
with victory. He could summon to his standard any desirable 
re - enforcements. An unobstructed march of but sixty miles 
would lead his army into the streets of Berlin. The affairs of 
Frederick were indeed desperate. There was not a gleam of 
hope to cheer him. In preparation for his retirement from the 
army, from the throne, and from life, he that evening drew up 
the following paper, placing the fragments of the army which he 
was about to abandon in the hands of General Finck. By the 
death of the king, the orphan and infant child of his brother Au- 
gustus William (who had died but a few months before) would 
succeed to the throne. Frederick appointed his brother Henry 
generalissimo of the Prussian army. 

This notable paper, which reflects but little credit upon the 
character of Frederick, was as follows : 

" General Finck gets a difficult commission. The unlucky 
army which I give up to him is no longer in a condition to make 
head against the Russians. Haddick will now start for Berlin, 
perhaps Loudon too* If General Finck go after these, the Rus- 

* Haddick and Loudon were two of the most able generals in the army of Soltikof. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 487 

sians will fall on his rear. If he continue on the Oder, he gets 
Haddick on his flank. However, I believe, should Loudon go 
for Berlin, he might attack Loudon and beat him. This, if it 
succeeded, would be a stand against misfortune, and hold mat- 
ters up. Time gained is much in these desperate circumstances. 
Coper, my secretary, will send him the news from Torgau and 
Dresden. You must inform my brother* of every thing, whom 
I have declared generalissimo of the army. To repair this bad 
luck altogether is not possible. But what my brother shall com- 
mand must be done. The army swears to my nephew. This is 
all the advice in these unhappy circumstances I am in a condi- 
tion to give. If I had still had resources, I would have staid by 
them. Frederick." 

It will be perceived that this paper is slightly less despairing 
than the preceding letter which he had written to Count Finck- 
enstein. Frederick, having written the order to General Finck, 
threw himself, in utter exhaustion, upon some straw in a corner 
of the hut, and fell soundly asleep. The Prussian officers, pass- 
ing by, gazed sadly through the open door upon the sleeping 
monarch. A single sentinel guarded the entrance. 

The next morning Frederick crossed the river to Reitwein, on 
the western bank. Here, during the day, broken bands of his 
army came in to the number of twenty-three thousand. It would 
seem that a night of refreshing sleep had so far recruited the ex- 
hausted energies of the king that he was enabled to look a little 
more calmly upon the ruin which enveloped him. He that day 
wrote as follows from Reitwein to General Schmettau, who was 
in command of the Prussian garrison at Dresden : 

" You will, perhaps, have heard of the check I have met with 
from the Russian army on the 13thf of this month. Though at 
bottom our affairs in regard to the enemy here are not desperate, 
I find I shall not be able to make any detachment for your as- 
sistance. Should the Austrians attempt any thing against Dres- 
den, therefore, you will see if there are means of maintaining 
yourself; failing which, it will behoove you to try and obtain a 
favorable capitulation — to wit, liberty to withdraw, with the 

* Prince Henry. f This was a slip of the pen. The battle of Kunersdorf was on the 12th. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




FREDERICK ASLEEP IN THE HUT AT OETSCHER. 

whole garrison, moneys, magazines, hospital, and all that we have 
at Dresden, either to Berlin or elsewhere, so as to join some corps 
of my troops. 

" As a fit of illness has come on me, which I do not think will 
have dangerous results, I have, for the present, left the command 
of my troops to Lieutenant General Von Finck, whose orders you 
are to execute as if coming directly from myself. On this I pray 
God* to have you in his holy and worthy keeping. F." 



The consternation at Berlin, as contradictory reports of victory 
and defeat reached the city, was indescribable. M. Sulzer, an 
eye-witness of the scene, writes under date of Berlin, August 13 th, 
1759: 

* " I pray God !'" Even the heart of the atheist in hours of calamity yearns for a God. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 489 

" Above fifty thousand human beings were on the palace es- 
planade and the streets around, swaying hither and thither in 
an agony of expectation, in alternate paroxysms of joy, of terror, 
and of woe. Often enough the opposite paroxysms were simul- 
taneous in the different groups. Men crushed down by despair 
were met by men leaping into the air for very gladness." 

As we have mentioned, the Russian general had such a dread 
of Frederick that he did not dare to pursue him. In his report 
of the victory to the Czarina Charlotte, speaking of his own 
heavy loss of over eighteen thousand men, he writes, "Your maj- 
esty is aware that the King of Prussia sells his victories at a 
dear rate." To some who urged him to pursue Frederick, he re- 
plied, " Let me gain but another such victory, and I may go to 
Petersburg with the news of it myself alone, with my staff in 
my hand." 

Frederick remained at tleitwein four days. He was very un- 
just to his army, and angrily reproached his soldiers for their 
defeat. It is true that, had every soldier possessed his own spir- 
it, his army would have conquered, or not a man would have left 
the field alive. The Russians, with almost inconceivable inac- 
tivity, retired to Lossow, ten miles south of Frankfort-on-the-Oder. 
The king, having by great exertions collected thirty-two thou- 
sand men, marched up the valley of the Spree, and placed him- 
self on the road between the Russians and Berlin. 

While on this march he wrote from Madlitz, under date of 
August 16th, to Marquis D'Argens, at Berlin : 

" We have been unfortunate, my dear marquis, but not by my 
fault. The victory was ours, and would even have been a com- 
plete one, when our infantry lost patience, and at the wrong mo- 
ment abandoned the field of battle. The Russian infantry is al- 
most totally destroyed. Of my own wrecks, all that I have been 
able to assemble amounts to thirty-two thousand men. With 
these I am pushing on to throw myself across the enemy's road, 
and either perish or save the capital. This is not what you will 
call a deficiency of resolution. 

" For the event I can not answer. If I had more lives than 
one, I would sacrifice them all to my country. But, if this stroke 
fail, I think I am clear scores with her, and that it will be per- 
missible to look a little to myself. There are limits to every 



490 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

thing. I support my misfortune. My courage is not abated by 
it. But I am well resolved, after this stroke, if it fail, to open an 
outgate to myself, and no longer be the sport of any chance."* 

Four days after, in anticipation of an immediate attack from 
the Kussians, he again wrote to the same address, " Remain at 
Berlin, or retire to Potsdam. In a little while there will come 
some catastrophe. It is not fit that you suffer by it. If things 
take a good turn, you can be back to Berlin. If ill luck still 
pursue us, go to Hanover, or to Zelle, where you can provide for 
your safety." 

The next day, the 21st of August, he wrote to D'Argens to 
come and visit him, and bring his bed with him. " I will have 
you a little chamber ready." But the next day lie wrote, 

"Yesterday I wrote to you to come ; to-day I forbid it. Daun 
is marching upon Berlin. Fly these unhappy countries. This 
news obliges me again to attack the Russians between here and 
Frankfort. You may imagine if this is a desperate resolution. 
It is the sole hope that remains to me of not being cut off from 
Berlin on the one side or the other. I will give these discour- 
aged troops brandy, but I promise myself nothing of success. 
My one consolation is that I shall die sword in hand." 

Just after dispatching this letter he received one from D'Ar- 
gens, to which he immediately, on the same day, returned the 
following reply : 

" Certainly I will fight. But do not flatter yourself about the 
result. A happy chance alone can help us. Go, in God's name 
to Tangermtinde. Wait there how destiny shall have disposed 
of us. I will reconnoitre the enemy to-morrow. Next day, if 
there is any thing to do, we will try it. If the enemy still holds 
to the Wine Hills of Frankfort, I shall not dare to attack him. 

" The torments of Tantalus, the pains of Prometheus, the doom 
of Sisyphus, were nothing to the torments I have suffered for the 
last ten days. Death is sweet in comparison with such a life. 
Pity me, and believe that I still keep to myself a great many 
evil things, not wishing to afflict or disquiet any body with them. 
Believe me that I would not counsel you to fly these unlucky 
countries if I had any ray of hope. Adieu, mon clier" 

* The king here undoubtedly refers to the vial of poison which he invariably carried in his 
waistcoat pocket. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 491 

The rumor that Daun was marching upon Berlin proved a 
false alarm. On the 4th of September the king again wrote 
D'Argens from his encampment at Waldau, a few leagues south 
of his last position, just over the border in Saxony : 

" I think Berlin is now in safety. You may return thither. 
The barbarians are in the Lausitz. I keep by the side of them, 
between them and Berlin, so that there is nothing to fear for the 
capital. The imminency of danger is passed. But there will be 
still many bad moments to get through before reaching the end 
of the campaign. These, however, only regard myself. Never 
mind these. My martyrdom will last two months yet. Then 
the snows and the ices will end it." 

General Schinettau had in Dresden a garrison of but three 
thousand seven hundred men. It will be remembered that he 
would doubtless be compelled to capitulate, and to do so on the 
best terms he could. But his Prussian majesty, being now a lit- 
tle more hopeful, wrote to him again, urging him to hold out to 
the last extremity, and informing him that he had dispatched to 
his aid General Wunsch, with a re-enforcement of eight thousand 
men, and General Finck with six thousand. The courier was 
cut off. General Schmettau, entirely unconscious that relief was 
coming, closely besieged, and threatened with the massacre of 
his whole garrison should the place be taken by storm, on Tues- 
day evening, the 4th of September, surrendered the city. 

It was a sore calamity to Frederick. Had General Schmettau 
held out only until the next day, which he could easily have done, 
relief would have arrived, and the city would have been saved. 
Frederick was in a great rage, and was not at all in the mood to 
be merciful, or even just. He dismissed the unfortunate general 
from his service, degraded him, and left him to die in poverty. 

Frederick had now under his command twenty-four thousand 
men. They were mostly on the road between Frankfort and 
Berlin, for the protection of the capital. His brother Henry, in 
the vicinity of Landshut, with his head-quarters at Schmottseifen, 
was in command of thirty-eight thousand. The Russians and 
Austrians numbered one hundred and twenty thousand. There 
was, however, but little cordial co-operation among the allies. 
Each was accused of endeavoring to crowd the other to the front 
of the battle against the terrible Frederick. 



492 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

The Russians did not attempt to march upon Berlin. About 
the middle of September General Soltikof gathered all his forces 
in hand, and commenced a march into Silesia to effect a junction 
with General Daun. Frederick followed, and, by a very rapid 
march, took possession of Sagan, on the Bober, where he was in 
direct communication with Henry. On the 24th of September 
the king wrote to his younger brother Ferdinand, in Berlin : 

" You may well suppose that, in the present posture of affairs, 
I am not without cares, inquietudes, and anxieties. It is the 
most frightful crisis I have had in my life. This is the moment 
for dying, unless one conquer. Daun and my brother Henry 
are marching side by side. It is possible enough all these armies 
may assemble hereabouts, and that a general battle may decide 
our fortune and the peace. Take care of your health, dear 
brother. F." 

There was much manoeuvring, in which Frederick displayed 
his usual skill, quite circumventing his foes. Daily he became 
less despairing. On the 25th of October he wrote to Fouquet : 

" With twenty-one thousand your beaten and maltreated serv- 
ant has hindered an army of fifty thousand from attacking him, 
and has compelled them to retire to Neusatz." 

On the 10th of October Frederick was attacked by the gout, 
and for three weeks was confined to his room. This extraordi- 
nary man, struggling, as it were, in the jaws of destruction, be- 
guiled the weary hours of sickness and pain by writing a treat- 
ise upon Charles XII and his Military Character. On the 24th 
of October, the Russian commander, quarreling with General 
Daun, set out, with his whole force, for home. On the 1st of 
November the king was carried in a litter to Glogau. Cold 
weather having now set in, General Daun commenced a march 
for Bohemia, to seek winter quarters nearer his supplies. Fred- 
erick, his health being restored, rejoined his troops under Henry, 
which were near Dresden. The withdrawal of both the Rus- 
sians and Austrians from Silesia greatly elated him. On the 
15th of November he wrote to DArgens from Maxen, a village 
a little south of Dresden : 

"Yesterday I joined the army, and Daun decamped. I have 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 493 

followed him thus far, and will continue it to the frontiers of 
Bohemia. Our measures are so taken that he will not get out 
of Saxony without considerable loss." 

General Finck was stationed at Maxen, with about fifteen 
thousand men, to cut the communications of Daun with Bohemia. 
Frederick, in his undue elation, was quite sure of inflicting ter- 
rible blows upon Daun. He issued imperative commands to 
General Finck to fight the allies regardless of their numbers. 
The Prussian general did not dare to disobey this command and 
withdraw from his commanding position, even when he saw him- 
self being surrounded with such superior forces as would almost 
certainly crush him. 

In a very triumphant mood, the king, on the 19th of Novem- 
ber, wrote a boastful and irreverent " Ode to Fortune," in that 
easy rhyme which he called poetry. The substance- of this ode, 
translated into prose, was as follows : 

" I am a poor heretic. I have never been blessed by the holy 
father. I never attend church. I worship neither God nor the 
devil. Often have those shaven scoundrels, the priests, declared 
that I had become extinct. 

" But behold the caprice of Fortune. After a hundred pref- 
erences of my rivals, she smiles upon me, and packs off the hero 
of the hat and sword, whom the pope had blessed, and who had 
gone on pilgrimages. He skulks out of Saxony, panting like a 
dog whom the cook has flogged out of the kitchen." 

This ode, " an irrepressible extempore effusion," as he termed 
it, the royal poet forwarded to D'Argens. The day but one after 
writing this, General Daun, having effectually surrounded Gen- 
eral Finck with nearly fifty thousand men of the allied troops 
— nearly four to one — after a severe conflict, compelled the sur- 
render of his whole army. The following plan of the battle of 
Maxen will show how completely Finck was encircled. General 
Daun claimed that he marched back into Dresden, as prisoners 
of war, eight generals, five hundred and twenty-nine officers, and 
fifteen thousand privates, with all their equipments and appur- 
tenances.* The next day, the 2 2d, Frederick wrote to D'Argens : 

"I am so stupefied with the misfortune which has befallen 

* " Of the 14,000 men who had made the expedition with him, only 3000 remained unwound- 
ed at the time of the capitulation." — Life of Frederick II., by Lord Dover, vol. ii., p. 134. 



494 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




g5w< 



BATTLE OF MAXEN, NOVEMBER 20, 1759. 

i a. Prussian Army. b. Prussian Detachment, under Wunsch. 
c c. Austrian Attack, under Baun. d d. Attack of Brentano and 
Sincere, eee. Reich's Army. 



General Finck that I can 
not recover from my as- 
tonishment. It deranges 
all my measures. It cuts 
me to the quick. Ill luck, 
which persecutes my old 
age, has followed me from 
Kunersdorf to Saxony. 
I will still strive what 
I can. The little ode I 
sent you, addressed to 
Fortune, was written too 
soon. One should not 
shout victory until the battle is over. I am so crushed by these 
reverses and disasters that I wish a thousand times I were dead. 
"From day to day I grow more weary of dwelling in a body 
worn out and condemned to suffer. I am writing to you in the 
first moment of my grief. Astonishment, sorrow, indignation, 
and scorn, all blended together, lacerate my soul. Let us get to 
the end, then, of this execrable campaign. I will then write to 
you what is to become of me, and we will arrange the rest. Pity 
me, and make no noise about me. Bad news goes fast enough 
of itself. Adieu, dear marquis." 

The king, as usual, was merciless to General Finck. As soon 
as he returned from Austrian captivity he was tried by court- 
martial, and condemned to a year's imprisonment in the fortress 
of Spandau, and was expelled from the army. He afterward re- 
tired to Denmark, where he was kindly received. 

General Daun, elated by this victory, relinquished the plan of 
retiring to Bohemia, and decided to remain in Saxony for the 
winter. Frederick had but thirty-six thousand men in Saxony. 
Daun commanded seventy-two thousand. 

The Elbe was now frozen. The storms of winter covered the 
icy fields with snow. Daun retired to Dresden. Frederick es- 
tablished himself in the little town of Freiberg, ^bout thirty 
miles southwest from Dresden. His troops were in cantonments 
in the adjoining villages. Here he took up his abode in a hum- 
ble cottage. Thus terminated the fourth campaign of the Seven 
Years' War. 






FREDEKICK THE GREAT. 495 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 

Winter Encampment. — Death of Maupertuis. — Infamous Conduct of Voltaire. — Reproof by the 
King. — Voltaire's Insincerity. — Correspondence. — The King publishes his Poems. — Dishon- 
orable Conduct of the King. — New Encampment near Dresden. — Destruction of Frederick's 
Army in Silesia. — Atrocities perpetrated by the Austrians. — Astonishing March. — The Aus- 
trians outwitted. — Dresden bombarded and almost destroyed by Frederick. — Battle of Leig- 
nitz. — Utter Rout of the Austrians. — Undiminished Peril of Frederick. — Letter to D'Argens. 

It was early in January, 1760, that the two hostile armies 
went into winter quarters. General Daun, with his seventy-two 
thousand triumphant troops, held Dresden. He encamped his 
army in an arc of a circle, bending toward the southwest from 
the city, and occupying a line about thirty miles in extent. 
Frederick, with thirty- two thousand troops depressed by defeat, 
defiantly faced his foe in a concave arc concentric to that of 
Daun. The two antagonistic encampments were almost within 
cannon-shot of each other. 

Never were the prospects of Frederick more gloomy. He had 
taken up his residence for the winter in a very humble cottage 
near the hamlet of Freiberg. He must have been very unhappy. 
Scenes of suffering were every where around him. It was terri- 
bly cold. His troops were poorly clothed, and fed, and housed. 

" It was one of the grimmest camps in nature ; the canvas 
roofs grown mere ice-plates, the tents mere sanctuaries of frost. 
Never did poor young Archenholtz see such industry in drag- 
ging w^ood-fuel, such boiling of biscuits in broken ice, such crowd- 
ing round the embers to roast one side of you while the other 
was freezing. But Daun's people, on the opposite side of the 
Plauen Dell, did the like. Their tents also were left standing 
in the frozen state, guarded by alternating battalions no better 
off than their Prussian neighbors.' 1 * 

Thus affairs continued through the winter. There were two 
frostbitten armies facing each other on the bleak plains. With 
apparently not much to be gained in presenting this front of de- 

♦Carlyle, vol. v., p. 469. 



496 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE WINTER CAMP. 



fiance, each party breasted the storms and the freezing gales, 
alike refusing to yield one inch of ground. 

During the previous summer, the philosopher Maupertuis, aft- 
er weary wanderings in the languor of consumption, and in great 
dejection of spirits, had been stricken by convulsions ' while in 
his carriage at Basel. He had lost favor with the king, and was 
poor, friendless, and dying. His latter years had been imbitter- 
ed by the venomous assaults of Voltaire. 

While in health and prosperity, quaffing the wines of Freder- 
ick, he. was an avowed infidel, and eagerly joined the ribald com- 
panions of the king in denouncing all religion as the fanaticism 
of weak minds. But in these hours of pain, of loneliness, and 
of approaching death he could find no consolation in the teach- 
ings of philosophy. He sent for two Christian ministers to visit 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 497 

him daily, and daily had the Bible read to him. It was a death- 
bed repentance. Bitterly he deplored a wasted life. Sincerely 
he seemed to embrace the doctrines of Christianity.* He died, 
after a lingering sickness, far from home and friends, on the 27th 
of July, 1759. 

Voltaire made himself very merry over the dying scene of 
Maupertuis. There was never another man who could throw so 
much poison into a sneer as Voltaire. It is probable that the 
conversion of Maupertuis somewhat troubled his conscience as 
the unhappy scorner looked forward to his own dying hour, 
which could not be far distant. He never alluded to Mauper- 
tuis without indulging in a strain of bitter mockery in view of 
his death as a penitent. Even the king, unbeliever as he was in 
religion or in the existence of a God, was disgusted with the ma- 
lignity displayed by Voltaire. In reply to one of Voltaire's en- 
venomed assaults the king wrote : 

" You speak of MaujDertuis. Do not trouble the ashes of the 
dead. Let the grave, at least, put an end to your unjust hatreds. 
Reflect that even kings make peace after long battling. Can 
not you ever make it ? I think you would be capable, like Or- 
pheus, of descending to hell, not to soften Pluto, and bring back 
your beautiful Emilie, but to pursue into that abode of woe an 
enemy whom your wrath has only too much persecuted in this 
world. For shame !"f 

Soon after Frederick wrote to Voltaire upon this subject again, 
still more severely, but in verse. The following is almost a lit- 
eral translation of this poetic epistle : 

" Leave the cold ashes of Maupertuis in peace. He was noble 
and faithful. He pardoned you that vile libel of Doctor Akakia 
which your criminal fury scribbled against him. And what re- 
turn are you making \ Shame on such delirious ravings as those 
'of Voltaire ! Shall this grand genius, whom I have admired, soil 
himself with calumny, and be ferocious on the dead ? Shall he, 
like a vile raven, pounce upon the sepulchre, and make prey 
upon its corpses V 

The friendship of these two remarkable men must have been 
of a singular character. Voltaire thus maliciously wrote of the 
king: 

* Biograpkie Universelle. t CEuvres de Frederic, t. xxii., p. 61. 

Ii 



498 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" He is as potent and as malignant as the devil. He is also 
as unhappy, not knowing friendship." 

Voltaire had, as a pet, a very vicious ape, treacherous, spiteful, 
who pelted passers-by with stones, and, when provoked, would 
bite terribly. The name of this hateful beast was Luc. Vol- 
taire gave his friend Frederick the nickname of Luc. He corre- 
sponded freely with the enemies of his Prussian majesty. A few 
extracts will reveal the character of the friendship of the philos- 
opher. Some days after the battle of Kunersdorf Voltaire wrote 
to D'Argental : 

" I do not love Luc ; far from it. I never will pardon him his 
infamous procedure with my niece,* nor the face he has to write 
me flattering things twice a month without having ever repaired 
his wrongs. I desire much his entire humiliation, the chastise- 
ment of the sinner ; whether his eternal damnation I do not 
quite know." 

Again he wrote, a few months after, to the Duke of Choiseul : 
"He has been a bad man, this Luc. And now, if one were to 
bet by the law of probability, it would be three to one that Luc 
would go to pot [sera perdu], with his rhymings and his banter- 
ings, and his injustices and politics, all as bad as himself."f 

Frederick affected great contempt for public opinion. He 
wrote to Voltaire : 

" I have the lot of all actors who play in public — applauded 
by some, despised by others. One must prepare one's self for 
satires, for calumnies, for a multitude of lies, which will be sent 
abroad into currency against one. But need that trouble my 
tranquillity ? I go my road. I do nothing against the interior 
voice of my conscience. And I concern myself very little in 
what way my actions paint themselves in the brain of beings not 
always very thinking, with two legs, and without feathers." 

It is evident that the king, thus surrounded with perils and 
threatened with utter destruction, was anxious for the termina- 
tion of the war. But still this inflexible man would not listen 
to any suggestions for peace but on his own terms. He wrote 
to Voltaire, urging him " to bring back peace." At the same 
time he said, 

* Voltaire's niece, Madame Denis, was with him when he was arrested at Frankfort, and she 
was terribly frightened. f (Euvres de Voltaire, t. lxxx., p. 313. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 499 

" In spite of all your efforts, you will not get a peace signed 
by my hands except on conditions honorable to my nation. 
Your people, blown up with self-conceit and folly, may depend 
on these words." 

But that he was fully awake to his perils, and keenly felt his 
sufferings, is manifest from the following extract from another 
of his letters : 

" The sword and death have made frightful ravages among us. 
And the worst is that we are not yet at the end of the tragedy. 
You may judge what effect these cruel shocks make on me. I 
wrap myself in my stoicism the best I can. Flesh and blood re- 
volt against such tyrannous command, but it must be followed. 
If you saw me you would scarcely know me again. I am old, 
broken, gray-headed, wrinkled. I am losing my teeth and my 
gayety. If this go on, there will be nothing of me left but the 
mania of making verses, and an inviolable attachment to my du- 
ties, and to the few virtuous men whom I know." 

In the above letter the king alludes to the " mania of making 
verses." Strange as it may seem, he this winter, when appar- 
ently almost crushed beneath the weight of cares and sorrows, 
when every energy of mind and body seemed called into requisi- 
tion in preparation for a new campaign, published an edition of 
his poems. 

The allies represented a population of ninety millions. The 
realms of Frederick embraced scarcely five millions of inhabit- 
ants. The allies decided that they would no longer make an 
exchange of prisoners. It was manifest that, by merely protract- 
ing the war, even without any signal successes on the part of the 
allies, Frederick would find all his resources of men exhausted. 
Frederick, who was never very scrupulous with regard to the 
means which he employed for the promotion of his ends, imme- 
diately compelled his prisoners of war, of whatever nationality, 
to enlist in his service. 

" Prisoners, captive soldiers, if at all likely fellows," writes Ar- 
chenholtz, " were by every means persuaded and even compelled 
to take Prussian service. Compelled, cudgel in hand, not asked 
if they wished to serve, but dragged to the Prussian colors, 
obliged to swear there, and fight against their countrymen."* 

* Archenkoltz, vol. ii., p. 53. 



500 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

Frederick also seized money wherever lie could find it, wheth- 
er in the hands of friend or foe. His contributions levied upon 
the Saxons were terrible. The cold and dreary winter passed 
rapidly away. The spring was late in that northern clime. It 
was not until the middle of June that either party was prepared 
vigorously to take the field. It was generally considered by the 
European world that Frederick was irretrievably ruined. In 
the last campaign he had lost sixty thousand men. Universal 
gloom and discouragement pervaded his kingdom. Still Fred- 
erick, by his almost superhuman exertions, had marshaled anoth- 
er army of one hundred thousand men. But the allies had two 
hundred and eighty thousand to oppose to them. Though Fred- 
erick in public assumed a cheerful and self-confident air, as if as- 
sured of victory, his private correspondence proves that he was, 
in heart, despondent in the extreme, and that scarcely a ray of 
hope visited his mind. To his friend D'Argens he wrote : 

" I am unfortunate and old, dear marquis. That is why they 
persecute me. God knows what my future is to be this year. 
I grieve to resemble Cassandra with my prophecies. But how 
augur well of the desperate situation we are in, and which goes 
on growing worse ? I am so gloomy to-day I will cut short. 

"Write to me when you have nothing better to do. And 
don't forget a poor philosopher who, perhaps to expiate his in- 
credulity, is doomed to find his purgatory in this world." 

Again, and at the same time, he wrote to another friend v 

"The difficulties I had last campaign were almost infinite, 
there were such a multitude of enemies acting against me. Pom- 
erania, Brandenburg, Saxony, frontiers of Silesia, were alike in 
danger, and often all at one time. If I escaped absolute destruc- 
tion, I inust impute it chiefly to the misconduct of my enemies, 
who gained such advantages, but had not the sense to follow 
them up. Experience often corrects people of their blunders. 
I can not expect to profit by any thing of that kind on their 
part in the course of this campaign."* 

Four campaigns of the Seven Years' War have passed. We 
are now entering upon the fifth, that of 1760. The latter part 

* "The symptoms we decipher in these letters, and otherwise, are those of a man drenched in 
misery ; but used to his black element, unaffectedly defiant of it, or not at the pains to defy it ; 
occupied only to do his very utmost in it, with or without success, till the end come." — Carltle. 



FREDERICK THE GEEAT. 501 

of April Frederick broke up his encampment at Freiberg, and 
moved his troops about twenty miles north of Dresden. Here 
he formed a new encampment, facing the south. His left wdng 
was at Meissen, resting on the Elbe. His right wing was at the 
little village of Katzenhauser, about ten miles to the southwest. 
Frederick established his head-quarters at Schlettau, midway of 
his lines. The position thus selected was, in a military point of 
view^, deemed admirable. General Daun remained in Dresden 
" astride" the Elbe. Half of his forces were on one side and half 
on the other of the river. 

The stunning news soon reached Frederick that General Fou- 
quet, whom he had left in Silesia with twelve thousand men, had 
been attacked by a vastly superior force of Austrians. The as- 
sault was furious in the extreme. Thirty-one thousand Austri- 
ans commenced the assault at two o'clock in the morning. By 
eight o'clock the bloody deed was done. Ten thousand of the 
Prussians strewed the field with their gory corpses. Two thou- 
sand only escaped. General Fouquet himself was wounded and 
taken prisoner. To add to the anguish of the king, this disaster 
was to be attributed to the king himself. He had angrily or- 
dered General Fouquet to adopt a measure which that general, 
better acquainted with the position and forces of the foe, saw to 
be fatal. Heroically he obeyed orders, though he knew that it 
would prove the destruction of his army. 

Silesia was at the mercy of the foe. Frederick regarded the 
calamity as irreparable. Still in a few hours he recovered his 
equanimity, and in public manifested his accustomed stoicism. 
The victorious Austrian soldiers in Silesia conducted themselves 
like fiends. Their plunderings and outrages were too shocking 
to be recited. " Nothing was spared by them," writes Frederick, 
" but misery and ugliness." 

There was a small garrison at Glatz, at Silesia, which, though 
closely besieged, still held out against the Austrians. Frederick 
thought that if he could by any stratagem draw General Daun 
from Dresden, he could, by a sudden rush, break down its walls 
and seize the city. He moved with celerity which completely 
deceived the Austrian commander. At two o'clock in the morn- 
ing of Wednesday, July 2d, his whole army was almost on the 
run toward Silesia. They marched as troops never marched be- 



502 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

fore. For twelve hours their speed was unintermitted. The 
next day, in utter exhaustion, they rested. But on Friday, as 
the village clocks were tolling the hour of midnight, all were 
again on the move, the king himself in front. Again it was a 
run rather than a march through a dreary realm of bogs, wild 
ravines, and tangled thickets. At three o'clock on Saturday 
morning the march was resumed. 

General Daun was soon informed of this energetic movement. 
He instantly placed himself at the head of sixty thousand troops, 
and also set out, at his highest possible speed, for Glatz. 

Sunday, July 6th, was a day of terrible heat. At three o'clock 
in the morning the Prussian troops were again in motion. There 
was not a breath of wind. The blazing sun grew hotter and 
hotter. There was no shade. The soldiers were perishing of 
thirst. Still the command was " onward," " onward." In that 
day's march one hundred and five Prussian soldiers dropped 
dead in their tracks. 

General Daun thought that such energy as this could not be 
a feint. He was much nearer to Glatz than was Frederick. Mon- 
day, July 7th, the Prussian troops rested. General Daun press- 
ed on. Tuesday night he was two days' march ahead of Fred- 
erick. In the mean time, the Prussian king, who had made this 
tremendous march simply to draw the foe from Dresden, sud- 
denly turned, and with the utmost velocity directed his troops 
back toward the city. 

General Maguire had been left in Dresden with but about 
fourteen thousand men for its defense. On Saturday, July 13th, 
the Prussian army appeared before the city. All the night they 
were erecting their batteries. Early Sunday morning the can- 
nonade began. As Daun might speedily arrive at the* head of 
sixty thousand troops for the relief of the garrison, the bombard- 
ment was conducted with the utmost possible energy. Day and 
night the horrible tempest fell upon the doomed city. Advers- 
ity had soured the king's disposition, and rendered him merciless. 
He had no compassion upon the innocent inhabitants. It was 
his aim, at whatever cost, to secure the immediate surrender of 
the place. He cruelly directed his terrific fire upon the thronged 
dwellings rather than upon the massive fortifications. Street 
after street blazed up in flames. It was Frederick's relentless 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 503 

plan by " fire torture" to force the citizens to compel Maguire to 
the surrender. But the Austrian commander hardened his heart 
against the misery of the Saxon people, and held the place. 

General Daun was proverbially slow-footed. For thirteen days 
the wretched city burned and bled. In a memorial to the world, 
which the King of Poland, as Elector of Saxony, published on 
the occasion, he said, 

" Had the enemy attacked Dresden according to the rules and 
the customs of war, had they directed their efforts against the 
ramparts, the king would, without doubt, have lamented the evils 
which would have resulted from it to his people, but he would 
have lamented them without complaining. But the Prussians 
made war on the innocent townsmen. Their fire was wholly di- 
rected against the houses. They endeavored to destroy a town 
which they could not take." 

In truth, when General Daun approached, and Frederick saw 
that there was no possibility of his taking the city, he, in the 
wantonness of his rage, set fire to upward of a hundred houses 
in the suburbs which had hitherto escaped the flames. Three 
hundred and fifty houses were destroyed within the walls. More 
than that number were half destroyed, shattered by bombs, and 
scorched with flames. These were terrible calamities falling upon 
a city already exhausted by four years of the most desolating 
war. The King of Poland closed his appeal by saying, 

"The king thinks it scarcely worth while to mention his pal- 
aces and his gardens sacked and ruined, in contempt of the re- 
gard usually paid from one sovereign to another. Is there a 
man in all Europe who does not see in these terrible effects an 
implacable hatred and a destructive fury which all nations ought 
to concur in repressing ?".* 

Frederick, being constrained by the approach of General Daun 
' to raise the siege of Dresden, retired to his intrenched camp at 
Schlettau. Leaving fifteen thousand men to guard the camp, he, 
on the 1st of August, before the dawn, crossed the Elbe, and was 
again on the rapid march toward Silesia. His army consisted 
of thirty thousand men, and was accompanied by two thousand 
heavy baggage- wagons. In five clays the king marched over one 
hundred miles, crossing five rivers. Armies of the allies, amount- 

* Annual Register, vol. iii. , p. 209. 



504: FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

ing to one hundred and seventy-five thousand Austrians and 
Russians, were around him — some in front, some in his rear, some 
on his flanks.* 

On the 14th of August Frederick had reached Liegnitz. His 
foes surrounded him in such numbers that escape seemed impos- 
sible, and destruction sure. General Loudon, with thirty -five 
thousand allies, was scarcely a mile east of him. General Lacy, 
with an immense swarm of cavalry, was at the distance of but a 
few thousand yards on the west. General Daun, with his im- 
mense army, approaching from the southwest, had taken posses- 
sion of Liegnitz. Frederick was encamped upon some heights a 
few miles east of the city. To human view, the position of his 
Prussian majesty was desperate. 

" He was clinging on the head of slippery abysses, his path 
hardly a foot's breadth, mere enemies and avalanches hanging 
round on every side ; ruin likelier at no moment of his life." 

On the night of the 14th Frederick had stationed his lines 
with the greatest care to guard against surprise. At midnight, 
wrapped in his cloak, and seated on a drum by a watch-fire, he 
had just fallen asleep. An Irish officer, a deserter from the Aus- 
.trians, came blustering and fuming into the camp with the an- 
nouncement that General Lacy's army was on the march to at- 
tack Frederick by surprise. Frederick sprang to his horse. His 
perfectly drilled troops were instantly in motion. By a rapid 
movement his troops were speedily placed in battle array upon 
the heights of the Wolfsberg. They would thus intercept the 
enemy's line of march, would take him by surprise, and were in 
the most admirable position to encounter superior numbers. To 
deceive the foe, all the Prussian camp-fires were left burning. 
General Loudon had resorted to the same stratagem to deceive 
Frederick. 

To the surprise of General Loudon, there was opened upon 
his advance-guard of five thousand men, as it was pressing for- 
ward on its stealthy march, in the darkness ascending an emi- 
nence, the most destructive discharge of artillery and musketry. 
The division was hurled back with great slaughter. Gathering 
re-enforcements, it advanced the second and the third time with 
the same results. Cavalry, infantry, artillery, were brought for- 

* Life of Frederick II., by Lord Dover, vol. ii., p. 152. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



505 




BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ, AUGUST 16, 1760. 
a a. Prussian Camp, left with fires burning. bbb. Prussian Main Army, c c. Ziciheri's Division, d d. Lou~ 
don's Camp, also left with fires burning, eee. Loudon's Army attacked by the Prussians, fff. Approach 
of Daun. g g. Lacifs Cavalry. 

ward, but all in vain. Frederick brought into action but fifteen 
thousand men. He utterly routed the hostile army of thirty-five 
thousand men, tilling four thousand, and taking six thousand 
prisoners. He also captured eighty-two cannon, twenty-eight 
flags, and five thousand muskets. His own loss was eighteen 
hundred men. The battle commenced at three o'clock in the 
morning, and was over at live o'clock. 

Frederick remained upon the field of battle four hours gather- 
ing up the spoils. The dead were left unburied. The wound- 
ed were placed in empty meal-wagons. General Loudon fled 
precipitately across the Katzbach River. To deceive the Aus- 
trians in reference to his movements, Frederick wrote a false dis- 
patch to his brother Henry, which he placed in the hands of a 
trusty peasant. The peasant was directed to allow himself to 
be taken. The plan worked to a charm. The other portions of 
the allied army, deceived by the dispatch, retreated as Frederick 
wished to have them. He soon formed a junction with his 
brother Henry, and being astonished himself at his almost mi- 



506 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

raculous escape, marched to the strong fortress of Breslau, which 
was still held by a small Prussian garrison, and where he had 
lar^e magazines. 

But, notwithstanding this wonderful victory and narrow es- 
cape, it still seemed that Frederick's destruction was only post- 
poned for a short time. He was in the heart of Silesia, and was 
surrounded by hostile armies three times more numerous than 
his own. 

Twelve days after the battle of Liegnitz Frederick wrote as 
follows to his friend, the Marquis D'Argens, who was at Berlin. 
The letter was dated Hermannsclorf, near Breslau, 27th of Au- 
gust, 1760 : 

"Formerly, my dear marquis, the affair of the loth would have 
decided the campaign. At present it is but a scratch. A great 
battle must determine our fate. Such we shall soon have. Then, 
should the event prove favorable to us, you may, with good rea- 
son, rejoice. I thank you for your sympathy. It has cost much 
scheming, striving, and address to bring matters to this point. 
Do not speak to me of dangers. The last action cost me only a 
coat and a horse. That is buying victory cheap.* 

" I never in my life was in so bad a posture as in this cam- 
paign. Miracles are still needed to overcome the difficulties 
which I foresee. I do my duty as well as I can. But remember, 
my dear marquis, that I can not command good fortune. J am 
obliged to leave too much to chance, as I have not the means to 
render my plans more certain. 

" I have the labors of Hercules to perform, at an age, too, when 
my strength is leaving me, when my infirmities increase, and, to 
speak the truth, when hope, the only consolation of the unhap- 
py, begins to desert me. You are not sufficiently acquainted 
with the posture of affairs to know the dangers which threaten 
the state. I know them, but conceal them. I keep all my fears 
to myself, and communicate to the public only my hopes and the 
trifle of good news I may now and then have. -If the blow I 
now meditate succeeds, then, my dear marquis, will be the time 
to express our joy. But, till then, do not let us flatter ourselves, 
lest unexpected bad news deject us too much. 

* The king had a coat torn from him by a rebounding cannon ball, and a horse shot under him. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 507 

" I live here the life of a literary monk. I have much to think 
of about my affairs. The rest of my time I give to literature, 
which is my consolation. I know not if I shall survive this war. 
Should it so happen, I am resolved to pass the rest of my days 
in retirement, in the bosom of philosophy and friendship. 

" As soon as the roads are surer I hope you will write more 
frequently. I do not know where we shall have our winter 
quarters. Our houses at Breslau have been destroyed in the 
late bombardment. - Our enemies envy us every thing, even the 
air we breathe. They must, however, leave us some place. If 
it be a safe one, I shall be delighted to receive you there. 

"Here is business which I must attend to. I was in a writing 
vein, but I believe it is better to conclude, lest I should tire you 
and neglect my own duties. Adieu, my dear marquis. I em- 
brace you. Frederick."* 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE END OF THE FIFTH CAMPAIGN". 

Incessant Marches and Battles. — Letter from Frederick to D'Argens. — Letter to his Brother 
Henry. — Berlin summoned to Surrender. — Sacking of the City. — Letter to D'Argens. — Des- 
perate Resolves of Frederick. — The Resort of Suicide. — Remarkable Address of Frederick 
to his Generals. — Bloody Battle of Torgau. — Dismal Night-scene. — Familiarity of the King 
with the Soldiers. — Winter Quarters at Freiberg. — Singular Letter to the Countess of Camas. 
— Death of the Princess Amelia. — Anecdotes of the King. — His domestic Habits. — His un- 
scrupulous Measures to obtain Men, and Money. — Letter of Charlotte of Mecklenburg. 

Sieges, skirmishes, battles innumerable ensued. The Russians 
and the Austrians, in superior numbers and with able leaders, 
were unwearied in their endeavors to annihilate their formidable 
foe. The conflict was somewhat analogous to that which takes 
place between the lion at bay in the jungle and a pack of dogs. 
The details could scarcely be made intelligible to the reader, and 
would certainly prove tedious, f 

Frederick so concentrated his forces as, ere long, to have about 
fifty thousand troops with him at Breslau. Weary weeks of 
marchings and fightings, blood and woe, passed on. Painful 

* CEuvres Posthumes de Frederic II. 

t "No human intellect in our day could busy itself with understanding these thousandfold 
marchings, manoeuvrings, assaults, surprisals, sudden facings about (retreat changed to advance) ; 
nor could the powerfulest human memory, not exclusively devoted to study the art military 
under Frederick, remember them when understood." — Carlyle, vol. vi.,p. o9. 



508 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

blows were struck upon both sides, but nothing decisive w r as ac- 
complished. In the midst of these harassments, perils, and toils, 
the king wrote to D'Argens, on the 18th of September, from 
Keisendorf: 

" I will not sing jeremiades to you, nor speak of my fears or 
anxieties ; but I can assure you that they are great. The crisis 
I am in changes in appearance, but nothing decisive happens. I 
am consumed by a slow fire ; I am like a living body losing limb 
after limb. May Heaven assist us, for we have much need 
of it. 

" You speak of my personal safety. You ought to know, as I 
do, that it is not necessary for me to live. But while I do live 
I must fight for my country, and save it if it be possible. In 
many little things I have had luck ; I think of taking for my 
motto, Maximus in minimis, et minimus in maximis* 

"It is impossible for you to imagine the horrible fatigues 
which we undergo. This campaign is worse than any of the 
others. I sometimes know not which way to turn. But w r hy 
weary you with these details of my toils and miseries ? My spir- 
its have forsaken me. All my gayety is buried with those dear 
and noble ones to whom my heart w r as bound. The end- of my 
life is melancholy and sad ; but do not, therefore, my dear mar- 
quis, forget your old friend."f 

To his brother Henry he wrote, " I have had a bad time of it, 
my dear brother; our means are so eaten away; far too short 
for opposing the prodigious number of our enemies set against 
us. If we must fall, let us date our destruction from the infa- 
mous day of Maxen. My health is a little better, but I have 
still hemorro'ides aveugles. That were nothing, however, w r ere it 
not for the disquietudes I feel. For these three days I have had 
so terrible a cramp in continuance that I thought it would choke 
me. It is now a little gone. No wonder that the chagrins and 
continual disquietudes I live in should undermine, and at length 
overturn, the most robust constitution." 

Early in October the allies planned an expedition for the cap- 
ture of Berlin. The city had no defenses but weak palisades, 
which were garrisoned by but twelve hundred men. General 
Czernichef led a column of twenty thousand Kussians, General 

* Great in small things, small in great things. t (Euvres de Frederic, t. xix. , p. 139. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 509 

Lacy another of fifteen thousand Austrians, and General Solti- 
kof a third column of twenty thousand more. 

On the 3d of October the vanguard of this army, three thou- 
sand strong, was seen in the distance from the steeples of Berlin. 
The queen and royal family fled with the archives to Magdeburg. 
The city was summoned to an immediate surrender, and to pay 
a ransom of about four million dollars to rescue it from the 
flames. The summons was rejected. General Tottleben, in com- 
mand of the advance, erected his batteries, and at five o'clock in 
the afternoon commenced his bombardment with red-hot balls. 
In the night a re-enforcement of five thousand Prussians, under 
Prince Eugene of Wurteinberg, who had marched forty miles 
that day, entered the city, guided by the blaze of the bombard- 
ment, to strengthen the garrison. Tottleben retired to await the 
allied troops, which were rapidly on the march. In the mean 
time, on the 8th, General Hiilsen arrived with nine thousand 
Prussian troops, increasing the garrison in Berlin to fifteen thou- 
sand. Frederick was also on the march, to rescue his capital, 
with all the troops he could muster. But the Russians had now 
arrived to the number of thirty-five thousand. The defenses 
were so weak that they could easily take or destroy the place. 

The garrison retired to avoid capture. Berlin surrendered on 
the morning of October 9th. For three days the enemy held 
the city. The semi- barbaric soldiers committed fearful outrages. 
The soldiers sacked the king's palaces at Potsdam and Charlot- 
tenburg, smashing furniture, doors, windows, mirrors, statuary, 
cutting the pictures, and maltreating the inmates. 

On the 11th it was -announced that Frederick, with nearly the 
whole Prussian army, was within five days' march of Berlin. 
The allies held him in such dread, when he had any thing like 
an equality of numbers with them, that they fled from him at 
the rate of thirty miles a day. But terrible were the ravages 
which they inflicted on the Prussian people during this retreat. 

The Russians marched to Poland. The Austrians returned to 
Saxony. As soon as Frederick heard of their retreat, instead of 
continuing his march to Berlin, he also turned his columns south- 
ward. On the 27th of October he crossed the Elbe, about sixty 
miles above Dresden, and found himself in the vicinity of Gen- 
eral Daun, whose army outnumbered that of Frederick two to 



510 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




SACKING THE PALACE. 



one. The situation of Frederick was extremely critical. Under 
these circumstances, he wrote to D'Argens on the 28th :. 

" You, as a follower of Epicurus, put a value upon life. As 
for me, I regard death from the Stoic point of view. Never shall 
I see the moment which will oblige me to make a disadvantage- 
ous peace. No persuasion, no eloquence, shall ever induce me to 
sign my own dishonor. Either I will bury myself under the 
ruins of my country, or, if that consolation appears too great to 
the Destiny which persecutes me, I shall know how to put an 
end to my misfortunes when it is no longer possible to bear 
them. I have acted, and continue to act, in pursuance of this 
conviction, and according to the dictates of honor, which have 
always directed my steps. My conduct shall continue, at all 
times, to be conformable to these principles. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 511 

" After having sacrificed my youth to my father, and my ma- 
turer age to my country, I think that I have acquired the right 
to dispose of my old age as I please. I have told you, and I re- 
peat it, my hand shall never sign a disgraceful peace. I shall 
continue this campaign with the resolution to dare all, and to 
try the most desperate things, either to succeed or to find a glo- 
rious end. 

" Indeed, how many reasons has one at fifty years of age to 
despise life ! The prospect which remains to me is an old age 
of infirmity and pain, with disappointments, regrets, ignominies, 
and outrages to endure. In truth, if you really consider my sit- 
uation, you ought to blame my intentions less than you do. I 
have lost all my friends. I am unfortunate in all the ways in 
which it is possible to be so. I have nothing to hope for. I 
see my enemies treat me with derision, while their insolence pre- 
pares to trample me under foot. Alas ! 

" ' Quand on a tout perdu, quand on n'a plus d'espoir, 
La vie est un opprobre, et la mort un devoir. '* 

" I have nothing to add to this. I will only inform your curi- 
osity that we passed the Elbe the day before yesterday; that 
to-morrow we march toward Leipsic, where I hope to be on the 
31st, where I hope we shall have a battle, and whence you shall 
receive news of us as it occurs." 

It is not strange that Frederick, being destitute of religious 
principle, should have ever contemplated suicide as his last re- 
sort. On the 2d of November the king came in sight of the en- 
campment of General Daun at Torgau, on the Elbe, some score 
of leagues north of Dresden. The king was at the head of forty- 
four thousand troops. Marshal Daun had eighty thousand, 
strongly intrenched upon heights west of the city, in the midst 
of a labyrinth of ponds, hills, ravines, and forests. We shall not 
' attempt to enter into a detail of the battle. The following plan 
of the battle will give the military reader an idea of the disposal 
of the forces. 

The position of the Austrians on the heights of Siptitz, an 
eminence which rose two hundred feet above the bed of the riv- 
er, seemed impregnable. Sixty-five thousand Austrians stood 

* When one has lost every thing, when one has no longer hope, 
Life is a disgrace, and death a duty. 



512 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




BATTLE OF TORGATJ, NOVEMBER 3, 1760. 

a a. Prussian Camp at Schilda. bbb. Austrian Army, ccc. Rear-guard, under Lacy. d. Prussian Detach- 
ment, under Ziethen. e. Frederick's Division beginning the Attack, f. Hulseri's Infantry, g. Holsteiri's 
Cavalry. 

upon those heights, protected by earth-works and a formidable 
abatis. They had four hundred guns in battery, a larger num- 
ber than had ever before been brought upon a battle-field. To 
attack then and there was an act of desperation. On the even- 
ing of the 2d the king assembled his generals and said to them, 

" I have called you together, not to ask your advice, but to in- 
form you that to-morrow I shall attack Marshal Daun. I am 
aware that he occupies a strong position, but it is one from which 
he can not escape. If I beat him, all his army must* be taken 
prisoners or drowned in the Elbe. If we are beaten, we must 
all perish. This war is become tedious. You must all find it 
so. We will, if we can, finish it to-morrow. General Ziethen, I 
confide to you the right wing of the army. Your object must 
be, in marching straight to Torgau, to cut off the- retreat of the 
Austrians when I shall have beaten them, and driven them from 
the heights of Siptitz." 

At an early hour on the morning of the 3d Frederick broke 
up his camp south of the foe, and, by a circuitous route of four- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 513 

teen miles, came clown upon the Austrians from the north. 
General Ziethen marched in almost a straight line for Torgau, to 
cut off the retreat. It was two o'clock in the afternoon when 
Frederick, emerging from the forest, ordered his men to charge. 
The assault was as impetuous and reckless as mortal men could 
possibly make. Instantly four hundred pieces of artillery open- 
ed fire upon them. 

"Archenholtz describes it as a thing surpassabie only by 
doomsday; clangorous rage of noise risen to the infinite; the 
boughs of the trees raining down upon you with horrid crash ; 
the forest, with its echoes, bellowing far and near, and reverbera- 
ting in universal death-peal, comparable to the trump of doom."* 

Frederick exclaimed, in astonishment, "What an infernal fire! 
Did you ever hear such a cannonade before ? I never did." 

The first assault was made by six thousand grenadiers upon 
the extreme western wing of the Austrian army. The terrible 
conflict lasted nearly an hour. The Prussians were driven back, 
leaving nine out of ten of the assailing force dead or wounded 
behind them. The Austrians pursued, and encountered slaugh- 
ter equal to that which they had inflicted. 

New columns were formed. Soon after three another charge 
was ordered. It was sanguinary and unsuccessful as the first. 
Frederick himself was wounded by a nearly spent case-shot which 
struck him on the breast. The blow was severe and painful. 
Had the ball retained a little more impetus it would have pass- 
ed through his body. It is said that the ball struck him to the 
earth, and that for some time he was void of consciousness. 
Upon reviving, his first words to his adjutant, a son of Old Des- 
sauer, who was sorrowfully bending over him, were, " What are 
you doing here % Go and stop the runaways." 

It was now half past four o'clock. The sun of the short No- 
vember day was rapidly sinking. Hasty preparations were 
made for another charge, aided by a body of Prussian cavalry 
which had just reached the ground. The gathering twilight 
was darkening hill and valley as the third assault was made. 
It was somewhat successful. By this time the two armies were 
quite intermingled. Marshal Daun was severely wounded, and 
was taken into Torgau to have his wounds dressed. The hour 

* Carlvle. 

Kk 



514 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

of six had now arrived. It was a damp, cloudy, dark night. 
The combatants were guided mainly by the flash of the muskets 
and the guns. "The night was so dark," says Archenholtz, 
" that you could not see your hand before you." Still for two 
hours the battle raged. 

Marshal Daun, as he retired with a shattered leg to have his 
wound dressed, resigned the command to General Buccow. In 
a few moments his arm was shot off, and General O'Donnell took 
the command. He ordered a retreat. The Austrian army, at 
nine o'clock in the evening, in much disorder, were crossing the 
Elbe by three bridges which had been thrown across the stream 
in preparation for a possible disaster. The king, disappointed in 
a victory which did not promise great results, passed the night 
conversing with the soldiers at their watch-fires. He had ever 
indulged them in addressing him with much familiarity, calling 
him Fritz, which was a diminutive of Frederick, and expressive 
of affection. " I suppose, Fritz," said one of the soldiers, " after 
this, you will give us good winter quarters." 

" By all the devils," exclaimed the king, " I shall not till we 
have taken Dresden. Then I will provide for you to your heart's 
content." 

The king was not a man of refined sensibilities. Not unfre- 
quently his letters contained coarse and indelicate expressions. 
He was very profane. Voltaire says of him, " He has a pleasing 
tone of voice even in swearing, which is as familiar to him. as to 
a grenadier." 

The battle of Torgau is to be numbered among the most 
bloody of the Seven Years' War. The Austrians lost twelve 
thousand in killed and wounded, eight thousand prisoners, forty- 
five cannon, and twenty-nine flags. The Prussian loss was also 
very heavy. There were fourteen thousand killed or wounded, 
and four thousand taken prisoners. 

The Austrians retired to Dresden for winter quarters. Fred- 
erick was left in the field which he had won. Gradually he 
withdrew to his old camping-ground at Freiberg, where his troops 
had been cantoned the previous winter. On the 10th of No- 
vember, 1760, he wrote from Meissen to the Marquis D'Argens 
at Berlin : 

" I drove the enemy to the gates of Dresden. They occupy 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 515 

their camp of last year. All ray skill is not enough to dislodge 
them. We have saved our reputation by the day of Torgau. 
But do not imagine that our enemies are so disheartened as to 
desire peace. I fear that the French will preserve through the 
winter the advantages they have gained during the campaign. 

" In a word, I see all black, as if I were at the bottom of a 
tomb. Have some compassion on the situation I am in. Con- 
ceive that I disguise nothing from you, and yet that I do not 
detail to you all my embarrassments, my apprehensions, and 
troubles. Adieu, my dear marquis. Write to me sometimes. 
Do not forget a poor devil who curses ten times a day his fatal 
existence, and could wish he already were in those silent coun- 
tries from which nobody returns with news." 

The next day, the 11th, Frederick wrote from Neustadt to the 
Countess of Camas, who at Berlin was the grand mistress of the 
queen's household. The trifling tone of this letter, which was 
penned in the midst of a struggle so awful, is quite characteristic 
of the writer : 

" I am punctual in answering, and eager to satisfy you. You 
shall have a breakfast- set, my good mamma ; six coffee-cups, very 
pretty, well diapered, and tricked out with all the little embel- 
lishments which increase their value. On account of some pieces 
which they are adding to the set, you will have to wait a few 
days. But I flatter myself this delay will contribute to your 
satisfaction, and produce for you a toy that will give you pleas- 
ure, and make you remember your old adorer. 

u It is curious how old people's habits agree. For four years 
past I have given up suppers as incompatible with the trade I 
am obliged to follow. On marching days my dinner consists of 
a cup of chocolate. 

" We have been running about like fools, quite inflated with 
• our victory, to see if we could not chase the Austrians out of 
Dresden. But they made mockery of us from the tops of their 
mountains. So I have withdrawn, like a naughty little boy, to 
hide myself, out of spite, in one of the most cursed villages of 
Saxony. We must now drive these gentlemen of the imperial 
army out of Freiberg in order to get something to eat and a place 
to sleep in."" 

CEuvres de Frederic, t. xix. , p. 204. 



516 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

"This is, I swear to you, such a dog's life \chienne de vie] as 
no one but Don Quixote ever led before me. All this tumbling, 
toiling, bother, and' confusion have made me such an old fellow 
that you would scarcely know me again. The hair on the right 
side of my head has grown quite gray. My teeth break and fall 
out. My face is as full of wrinkles as the furbelow of a petti- 
coat. My back is bent like a fiddle-bow, and my spirit is sad 
and downcast, like a monk of La Trappe. 

" I forewarn you of this, that, if we should meet again in flesh 
and bone, you might not feel yourself too violently shocked by 
my appearance. There remains nothing to me unaltered but my 
heart, which, as long as I breathe, will retain sentiments of es- 
teem and tender friendship for my good mamma. Adieu."* 

On Saturday, the 25th of October of this year, George II., King 
of England, died. The poor old gentleman, who had been en- 
dowed with but a very ordinary share of intelligence, was sev- 
enty-seven years of age. On Monday he had presided at a re- 
view of troops in Hyde Park. On Thursday he stood upon the 
portico of his rural palace in Kensington to see his Guards march 
by for foreign service. Saturday morning he rose at an early 
hour, took his cup of chocolate as usual, and, opening his win- 
dows, said the morning was so fine he would take a walk in his 
garden. It was then eight o'clock. His valet withdrew with 
the cup and saucer. He had hardly shut the door when he 
heard a groan and a fall. Hurrying back, he found the king 
upon the floor. Faintly the death-stricken monarch exclaimed, 
" Call Amelia," and instantly died. 

" Poor deaf Amelia (Frederick's old love, now grown old and 
deaf) listened wildly for some faint sound from those lips now 
mute forever. George II. was no more. His grandson, George 
III, was now king."f 

George II. had always hated his nephew Frederick. His only 
object in sustaining the war was to protect his native electorate 
of Hanover and to abase France. £ The new sovereign, in his 
first speech to Parliament, said : 

" I rely upon your zeal and hearty concurrence to support the 
King of Prussia and the rest of my allies, and to make ample 

* Correspondance Familiere et Amicale de Frederic, Roi de Prusse, t. ii., p. 140. 

f Carlyle. X Life of Frederick II., by Lord Dover, vol. ii., p. 170. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 517 

provision for carrying on the war, as the only means of bringing 
our enemies to equitable terms of accommodation." 

It seems that in England there were two parties in reference 
to the war. Sir Horace Walpole, in a letter under date of De- 
cember 5th, 1760, wrote to Sir Horace Mann, at Florence : 

" I shall send you a curious pamphlet, the only work I almost 
ever knew that changed the opinions of many. It is called ' Con- 
siderations on the present German War.' The confirmation of 
the King of Prussia's victory near Torgau does not prevent the 
disciples of the pamphlet from thinking that the best thing which 
could happen for us would be to have that monarch's head shot 
off."* 

Notwithstanding the opposition, Parliament voted to continue 
the subsidy to Frederick of about three million four hundred 
thousand dollars (£670,000). This sum was equal to twice or 
three times that amount at the present day. 

Frederick, having cantoned his troops at Freiberg and its vi- 
cinity, on the 27th of November wrote again to the Countess of 
Camas : 

"We have settled our winter quarters. I have yet a little 
round to take, and afterward I shall seek for tranquillity at Leip- 
sic, if it be to be found there. But, indeed, for me tranquillity 
is only a metaphysical word which has no reality." 

Frederick was so busy cantoning his troops that he did not 
take possession of his head-quarters in Leipsic until the 8th of 
December. He occupied the Apel House, No. 16 Neumarkt 
Street, the same which he had occupied before the battle of Koss- 
bach. The same mistress kept the house as before. Upon see- 
ing the king, the good woman exclaimed, in astonishment, "How 
lean your majesty has grown !" 

"Lean indeed I' am," the king replied. "And what wonder, 
with three women f hanging on the throat of me all this while !" 

Thus ended the fifth campaign of the Seven Years' War. 
Though the king had thus far averted the destruction which 
seemed every hour to be impending, his strength and resources 
were so rapidly failing that it seemed impossible that he could 

* Walpole's Letters to Sir Horace Mann, vol. i., p. 6, 7. 

t Maria Theresa of Austria, Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, and the Marchioness of Pompa- 
dour, who was virtually Queen of France. 



518 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

much longer continue the struggle. Under these despairing cir- 
cumstances, the king, with an indomitable spirit, engaged vigor- 
ously in gathering his strength for a renewal of the fight in the 
spring. 

" In the midst of these preparations for a new campaign against 
a veteran army of two hundred and eighty thousand enemies, 
Frederick yet found sufficient leisure for peaceable occupations. 
He consecrated some hours every day to reading, to music, and 
to the conversation of men of letters."* 

D'Argens spent the winter with the king at Leipsic. He 
gives the following incident : " One day I entered the king 1 s 
apartment, and found him sitting on the floor with a platter of 
fried meat, from which he was feeding his dogs. He had a little 
rod, with which he kept order among them, and shoved the best 
bits to his favorites." 

The marquis looked for a moment upon the singular spectacle 
with astonishment. Then raising his hands, he exclaimed, 

" The five great powers of Europe, who have sworn alliance, 
and conspired to ruin the Marquis of Brandenburg, how might 
they puzzle their heads to guess what he is now doing ! Schem- 
ing some dangerous plan, think they, for the next campaign, col- 
lecting funds, studying about magazines for man and horse ; or 
is he deep in negotiations to divide his enemies, and get new al- 
lies for himself? Not a bit of it. He is sitting peaceably in 
his room feeding his dogs."f 

The king was quite unscrupulous in the measures to which he 
resorted to recruit his army. Deserters, prisoners, peasants, were 
alike forced into the ranks. Even boys but thirteen and four- 
teen years of age were seized by the press-gangs. The countries 
swept by the armies were so devastated and laid waste that it 
was almost an impossibility to obtain provisions for the troops. 
It will be remembered that upon the capture of Berlin several 
of the king's palaces had been sacked by the Russian and Aus- 
trian troops. The king, being in great want of money, looked 
around for some opportunity to retaliate. There was within his 
cantonments a very splendidly furnished palace, called the Hu- 
bertsburg Schloss, belonging to the King of Poland. On the 
21st of January, 1761, Frederick summoned to his audience-room 

* Vie de Frederic II, Roi de Prusse, t. ii. , p. 141. t Prusse, t. ii., p. 282. . 



FREDERICK THE GEEAT. 519 

General Saldern. This officer cherished a very high sense of 
honor. The bravest of the brave on the field of battle, he re- 
coiled from the idea of performing the exploits of a burglar. 
The following conversation took place between the king and his 
scrupulous general. In very slow, deliberate tones, the king 
said: 

" General Saldern, to-morrow morning I wish you to go with 
a detachment of infantry and cavalry to Hubertsburg. Take 
possession of the palace, and pack up all the furniture. The 
money they bring I mean to bestow on our field hospitals. I 
will not forget you in disposing of it." 

"Forgive me, your majesty," General Saldern replied, "but 
this is contrary to my honor and my oath." 

The king, in still very calm and measured words, rejoined, 
"You would be right if I did not intend this desperate method 
for a good object. Listen to me. Great lords don't feel it in 
their scalp when their subjects are torn by the hair. One has 
to grip their own locks as the only way to give them pain." 

"Order me, your majesty," said General Saldern, "to attack 
the enemy and his batteries, and I will cheerfully, on the instant, 
obey ; but I can not, I dare not, act against honor, oath, and 
duty. For this commission your majesty will easily find anoth- 
er person in my stead." 

The king turned upon his heel, and, with angry voice and ges- 
ture, said, " Saldern, you refuse to become rich." 

In a pet Frederick left the room. The heroic general, who 
had flatly refused to obey a positive command, found it necessa- 
ry to resign his commission. The next day another officer plun- 
dered the castle. Seventy-five thousand dollars of the proceeds 
of the sale were appropriated to the field hospitals. The re- 
mainder, which proved to be a large sum, was the reward of the 
plundering general. 

" The case was much canvassed in the army. It was the topic 
in every tent among officers and men. And among us army 
chaplains, too, the question of conflicting duties arose. Your 
kino; ordering; one thing-, and your conscience another, what ought 
a man to do ? And what ought an army chaplain to preach or 
advise ? 

" Our general conclusion was that neither the king nor Gener- 



520 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

al Saldern could well be called in the wrong. General Saldern, 
in obeying the inner voice, did certainly right. But the king, 
also, in his place, might judge such a measure expedient. Per- 
haps General Saldern himself would have done so had he been 
King of Prussia."* 

The Duke of Mecklenburg had a sister, Charlotte, a bright 
and beautiful young girl of seventeen. Her heart was so moved 
by the scenes of misery which she witnessed every where around 
her that she ventured to write a very earnest appeal to Freder- 
ick for peace. 

" It was but a few years ago," she wrote, " that this territory 
wore the most pleasing appearance. The country was cultivated. 
The peasants looked cheerful. The towns abounded with riches 
and festivity. What an alteration at present from such a charm- 
ing scene ! I am not expert at description, neither can my fancy 
add any horrors to the picture. But sure even conquerors them- 
selves would weep at the hideous prospect now before me. 

" The whole country, my dear country, lies one frightful waste, 
presenting only objects to excite terror, pity, and despair. The 
business of the husbandman and the shepherd are quite discon- 
tinued. The husbandman and shepherd are become soldiers 
themselves, and help to ravage the soil they formerly occupied. 
The towns are inhabited by old men, women, and children. Per- 
haps here and there a warrior, rendered unfit for service- by 
wounds and want of limbs, is left at his door. His little chil- 
dren hang round him, ask a history of every wound, and grow 
themselves soldiers before they find strength for the field. 

" But this were nothing did we not feel the alternate insolence 
of either army as it happens to advance or retreat. It is impos- 
sible to express the confusion which even those create who call 
themselves our friends. Even those from whom we might ex- 
pect redress oppress us with new calamities. From you, there- 
fore, it is that we expect relief. To you even women and chil- 
dren may complain, for your humanity stoops to the most hum- 
ble petition, and your power is capable of repressing the great- 
est injustice. I am, sire, etc., 

" Charlotte Sophia, of Mecklenburg-Strelitz." 

* Ktister, Cltarakterziige des General Lieutenant v. Saldern, p. 40 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 521 

This letter was extensively circulated in England. It was 
greatly admired. It so happened that the court was then look- 
ing around for a bride for their young king. The result was 
that in the course of a few months Charlotte became Queen of 
England, as the wife of George III. 

It is not known that Frederick paid any attention to this ap- 
\peal. Impoverished as his realms were, large sums of money 
were absolutely necessary for the conduct of a new campaign. 
The king levied a contribution upon Leipsic of nearly a million 
of dollars. The leading citizens said that in their extreme des- 
titution it was impossible to raise that sum. The king threat- 
ened to burn down the city over their heads. The combustibles 
were gathered. The soldiers stood with the torches in their 
hands to kindle the conflagration. But then the king, apparent- 
ly reflecting that from the smouldering ashes of the city he could 
glean no gold, ordered the city to be saved, but arrested a hun- 
dred of the chief merchants and threw them into prison. 

These men, of the highest distinction, were treated with every 
indignity to extort the money from them. They were incarcer- 
ated in gloomy dungeons, with straw only for their beds, and 
with bread and water only for their food. But even this sever- 
ity was unavailing. Seventeen were then selected from their 
number, and were informed that they were to be forced into the 
ranks as common soldiers. Their muskets and their knapsacks 
were given to them, and they were ordered to Magdeburg to be 
drilled. By this application of torture the money was obtained. 
And now, while the storms of winter were sweeping the frozen 
fields, both parties were gathering their strength anew for the 
struggle of the sixth campaign. 



522 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE END OF THE SEVEN TEAKS' WAR. 

Commencement of the Sixth Campaign. — The Fortified Camp at Bunzelwitz. — Skillful En- 
gineering. — Unintermitted Toil of the Soldiers. — Retreat of the Russians. — Loss of Schweid- 
nitz. — Peculiar Treatment of General Zastrow. — Close of the Sixth Campaign. — The King 
at Breslau. — Desponding Letter to DArgens. — Death of Elizabeth of Russia. — Accession of 
Peter III. — His Marriage with the Daughter of a Prussian General. — Takes the Baptismal 
Name of Catharine. — Assassination of Peter III. — Curious Proclamation by the Empress. — 
Commencement of the Seventh Campaign. — Alliance of Russia with Prussia. — Withdrawal 
from the Alliance. — Termination of the War. 

The fifth campaign of the Seven Years' War closed with the 
year 1760. By exertions snch as mortal man perhaps never 
made before, Frederick succeeded, during the winteiyin raising 
an army of ninety-six thousand men. In the mean time the al- 
lies had concentrated in Bohemia, to crush him, seventy-two thou- 
sand Austrians and sixty thousand Russians. The capture of 
four fortresses would drive Frederick hopelessly out of Silesia. 
Early in May, Frederick, leaving his brother Henry with about 
forty thousand men to protect Saxony, set out with fifty thou- 
sand for the relief of Neisse, which was then besieged. General 
Goltz, probably the most able of the Prussian commanders, was 
detached to the fortified camp at Glogau. 

"But, alas! poor Goltz, just when ready to march, was taken 
with sudden, violent fever, the fruit probably of overwork ; and 
in that sad flame blazed away his valiant existence in three or 
four days; gone forever, June 30, 1761, to the regret of Freder- 
ick and of many."* 

The Russians were entering Silesia from the northeast by 
the way of Poland. Frederick, by one of his incredibly rapid 
marches, for a time prevented the junction of the two hostile 
armies. After innumerable marchings and manceuvrings, during 
which Frederick displayed military ability which commanded 
the admiration even of his foes, the Prussian king found himself, 
on the 16th of August, at Nicolstadt, in the very heart of Silesia, 
at the head of fifty-seven thousand men. In front of him, ob- 
structing his advance, there were sixty thousand Russians. In 

* Carlvle. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 523 

his rear, cutting off his retreat, there were seventy-two thousand 
Austrians. From a commanding eminence Frederick could watch 
the movements of both of these hostile bands. Both Russians 
and Austrians stood in such awe of the prowess of their redoubt- 
able antagonist that they moved cautiously, like hounds sur- 
rounding the lion at bay. 

At three o'clock in the morning of the 20th of August, and 
after the march of a few hours, the little army of Frederick com- 
menced constructing a fortified camp near the poor little village 
of Bunzelwitz, about half way between the Silesian fortresses of 
Schweidnitz and Striegau. Spades were provided. Fifty thou- 
sand men were instantly employed, according to a well-matured 
plan, in digging and trenching. The extraordinary energies of 
Frederick seemed to nerve every arm. Here there was speedily 
reared the camp of Bunzelwitz, which has attained world-wide 
renown. 

An ordinary eye would not have seen in the position any pe- 
culiar military strength. It was an undulating plain about eight 
miles long and broad, without any abrupt eminences. A small 
river bordered it on the west, beyond which rose green hills. On 
the east was the almost impregnable fortress of Schweidnitz, with 
its abundant stores. Farm-houses were scattered about, with 
occasional groves and morasses. There were also sundry villages 
in the distance. 

Frederick himself was chief engineer. The army was divided 
into two forces of twenty-five thousand each. Carlyle gives a 
graphic description of this enterprise. 

" And twenty -five .thousand spades and picks are at work, un- 
der such a field engineer as there is not in the world when he 
takes to that employment. At all hours, night and day, twen- 
ty-five thousand of them : half the army asleep, other half dig- 
ging, wheeling, shoveling ; plying their utmost, and constant as 
Time himself: these, in three days, will do a great deal of spade- 
work. Batteries, redoubts, big and little ; spare not for digging. 
Here is ground for cavalry, too. Post them here, there, to biv- 
ouac in readiness, should our batteries be unfortunate. Long 
trenches are there, and also short; batteries commanding every 
ingate, and under them are mines. 1 ' 

Many of the trenches were sixteen feet broad by sixteen feet 



524 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

deep. Under each battery there were two mines. In case of 
capture, the mines and the victors could be blown high into the 
air. Knowing that the batteries were all mined, the Russian 
and Austrian soldiers would be slow to make charges in which 
victory would be certain death. The small villages around were 
all strongly fortified. 

" Wiirben, in the centre, is like a citadel looking down upon 
Striegau Water. Heavy cannon, plenty of them, we have brought 
from Schweidnitz. We have four hundred and eighty cannon 
in all, and one hundred and eighty-two mines. Wiirben, our 
citadel and centre, is about five miles from Schweidnitz. Before 
our lines are palisades and chevaux-de-frise. Woods we have in 
abundance in our circuit, and axes for carpentries of that kind. 
There are four intrenched knolls ; twenty-four big batteries ca- 
pable of playing beautifully, all like pieces in a concert."* 

Frederick had been three days and nights at work upon his 
fortress before the allies ventured forward to look into it. It 
was then a Gibraltar. Still for eight clays more the spade was 
not intermitted. Co.gniazo, an Austrian, writes : " It is a master- 
piece of art, in which the principles of tactics are combined with 
those of field fortifications as never before." 

The Austrians took position upon the south, at the distance 
of about six miles. The Russians were at the same distance on 
the west, with their head-quarters at Hohenfriedberg. 

It would seem that Frederick's troops must have had iron 
sinews, and that they needed as little repose as did their master. 
Those not at work with the spade were under arms to. repel an 
assault. Two or three times there was an alarm, when the whole 
fifty thousand, in an hour, were in battle-array. Frederick was 
fully aware of the crisis he had encountered. To be beaten 
there was irretrievable ruin. No one in the army performed 
more exhausting labor than the king himself. He seemed to 
be omnipresent, by day and by night. Near the chief battery, 
in a clump of trees, there was a small tent, and a bundle of straw 
in the corner. Here the king occasionally sought a few mo- 
ments of repose. But his nervous excitement rendered him so 
restless, that most of the time he was strolling about among the 
guard parties, and warming himself by their fires. 

* Archenholtz, vol. ii., p. 262. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



525 




THE KING S BIVOUAC. 



" One evening," writes Carlyle, " among the orders is heard 
this item : i And remember a lock of straw, will you, that I may 
not have to sleep upon the ground, as last night I' Many anec- 
dotes are current to this day about his pleasant, homely ways, 
and affabilities with the sentry people, and the rugged hospital- 
ities they would show him at their watch-fires. l Good evening, 
children.' ' The same to thee, Fritz.' 'What is that you are 
cooking V — and would try a spoonful of it, in such company ; 
while the rough fellows would forbid smoking. ' Don't you 
know he dislikes it V t No ! smoke away,' the king would in- 
sist." 

General Loudon was in command of the Austrians, and Gen- 
eral Butturlin of the Russians, who were arrayed against Fred- 
erick. They could not agree upon a plan of attack. Neither 
commander was willing to expose his troops to the brunt of a 
battle in which the carnage would necessarily be dreadful. 
Thus the weeks wore away. Frederick could not be safely at- 
tacked, and winter was approaching. 

At ten o'clock at night on the 9th of September, the Russian 
camp went up in flame. The next morning not a Russian was 



526 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

to be seen. The whole army had disappeared over the hills far 
away to the north. Frederick immediately dispatched eight 
thousand men under General Platen to attack the flank of the 
retreating foe, and destroy his baggage-wagons. The feat was 
brilliantly accomplished. On the loth of September, before the 
dawn of the morning, General Platen fell upon the long train, 
took nearly two thousand prisoners, seven cannon, and destroy- 
ed five thousand heavily-laden wagons. 

Frederick remained at Bunzelwitz a fortnight after the retreat 
of the Russians. In the mean time the French and English were 
fighting each other with varying success upon the banks of the 
Rhine. It is not necessary to enter into the details of their 
struggles. Frederick's magazines at Schweidnitz were getting 
low. On the 26th of September he broke up his camp at Bun- 
zelwitz, and in a three days' march to the southeast reached 
Neisse. The Austrians did not venture to annoy him. Freder- 
ick had scarcely reached Neisse when he learned, to his amaze- 
ment and horror, that General Loudon, with a panther-like spring, 
had captured Schweidnitz, with its garrison and all its supplies. 
It was a terrible blow to the king. The Austrians could now 
winter in Silesia. The anguish of Frederick must have been 
great. But he gave no utterance to his gloomy forebodings. 

"The king," writes Ktister, "fell ill of the gout, saw almost 
nobody, never came out. It was whispered that his inflexible 
heart was at last breaking. And for certain there never was in 
his camp and over his dominions such a gloom as in this Octo- 
ber, 1761, till at length he appeared on horseback again, with a 
cheerful face ; and every body thought to himself, ' Ha! the world 
will still roll on, then.' " 

Frederick's treatment of the unfortunate General Zastrow, who 
w T as in command at Schweidnitz, was quite peculiar. Very gen- 
erously he wrote to him : 

" My dear General Von Zastrow, — The misfortune which 
has befallen me is very grievous. But what consoles me in it is 
to see by your letter that you have behaved like a brave officer, 
and that neither you nor your garrison have brought disgrace 
or reproach upon yourselves. I am your well-affectioned king. 

" Frederick. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 527 

" P.S. — You may, in this occurrence, say what Francis I., after 
the battle of Pavia, wrote to his mother : ' All is lost except 
honor.' As I do not yet completely understand the affair, I for- 
bear to judge of it, for it is altogether extraordinary." 

Notwithstanding this letter, Frederick refused to give Gener- 
al Zastrow any further employment, but left him to neglect, ob- 
scurity, and poverty. Zastrow wrote to the king imploring a 
court-martial. He received the following laconic reply : 

" It is of no use. I impute nothing of crime to you. But aft- 
er such a mishap it would be dangerous to trust you with any 
post or command." 

The freezing gales of winter soon came, when neither army 
could keep the open field. Frederick established his winter 
quarters at Breslau. General Loudon, with his Austrians, was 
about thirty miles southwest of him at Kunzendorf. Thus end- 
ed the sixth campaign. 

The. winter was long, cold, and dreary. Fierce storms swept 
the fields, piling up the snow in enormous drifts. But for this 
cruel war, the Prussian, Russian, and Austrian peasants, who had 
been dragged into the armies to slaughter each other, might 
have been in their humble but pleasant homes, by the bright 
fireside, in the enjoyment of all comforts. 

"The snow lies ell-deep," writes Archenholtz ; " snow-tempests, 
sleet, frost. The soldiers' bread is a block of ice, impracticable 
to human teeth till you thaw it." 

It was on the 9th of December that the king, after incredible 
exposure to hunger, and cold, and night-marchings, established 
himself for the winter in the shattered apartments of his ruined 
palace at Breslau. He tried to assume a cheerful aspect in pub- 
lic, but spent most of his hours alone, brooding over the ruin 
which now seemed inevitable. He withdrew from all society, 
scarcely spoke to any body except upon business. One day 
General Lentulus dined with him, and not one word was spoken 
at the table. On the 18th of January, 1762, the king wrote in 
the following desponding tones to D'Argens : 

"The school of patience I am at is hard, long-continued, cruel, 
nay, barbarous. I have not been able to escape my lot. All 
that human foresight could suggest has been employed, and 



528 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

nothing has succeeded. If Fortune continues to pursue me, 
doubtless I shall sink. It is only she that can extricate me from 
the situation I am in. I escape out of it by looking at the uni- 
verse on the great scale, like an observer from some distant plan- 
et. All then seems to me so infinitely small ; and I could al- 
most pity my enemies for giving themselves such trouble about 
so very little. 

" What would become of us without philosophy, without this 
reasonable contempt of things frivolous, transient, and fugitive, 
about which the greedy and ambitious make such a pother, fan- 
cying them to be solid ! This is to become wise by stripes, you 
will tell me. Well, if one do become wise, what matters it how \ 
I read a great deal. I devour my books, and that brings me 
useful alleviation. But for my books, I think hypochondria 
would have had me in Bedlam before now. In fine, dear mar- 
quis, we live in troublous times and in desperate situations. I 
have all the properties of a stage hero — always in danger, always 
on the point of perishing. One must hope that the conclusion 
will come, and if the end of the piece be lucky, we will forget 
the rest."* 

" The darkest hour is often nearest the dawn." The next day 
after Frederick had written the above letter he received news 
of the death of his most inveterate enemy, Elizabeth, the Em- 
press of Russia. As we have mentioned, she was intensely ex- 
asperated against him in consequence of some sarcasms in which 
he had indulged in reference to her private life. Elizabeth was 
the daughter of Peter the Great, and had inherited many of her 
father's imperial traits of character. She was a very formidable 
foe. 

" Russia may be counted as the bigger half of all he- had to 
strive with ; the bigger, or at least the far uglier, more ruinous, 
and incendiary ; and, if this were at once taken away, think what 
a daybreak when the night was at the blackest."f 

The nephew of Elizabeth, and her successor, Peter III., was a 
very warm admirer of Frederick. One of his first ^acts was to 
send to the Prussian king the assurance of his esteem and friend : 
ship. Peter immediately released all the Prussian prisoners in 
his dominions, entered into an armistice with Frederick, which 

* (Euvres de Frederic, t. xix., p. 281. t Carlyle. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 529 

was. soon followed by a treaty of alliance. The two sovereigns 
commenced a very friendly correspondence. Frederick returned 
all the Russian prisoners, well clothed and fed, to their homes. 
The change was almost as sudden and striking as the transfor- 
mations in the. kaleidoscope. On the 23d Peter issued a decree 
that there was peace with Prussia, that he had surrendered to 
his Prussian majesty all the territorial conquests thus far made, 
and had recalled the Russian armies. ^. 

Peter III. had been left an orphan, and titular Duke of Sckles- 
wig-Holstein, when eleven years of age. His mother was a daugh- 
ter of Peter the Great. His aunt, the Czarina Elizabeth, who 
had determined not to marry, adopted the child, and pronounced 
him to be her heir to the throne. Being at that time on friend- 
ly terms with Frederick, the Empress Elizabeth had consulted 
him in reference to a wife for the future czar. It will be remem- 
bered that the king effected a marriage between Peter and So- 
phia, the beautiful daughter of a Prussian general, Prince of An- 
halt-Zerbst, and at that time commandant of Stettin. His wife 
was sister to the heir-apparent of Sweden. Carlyle, speaking of 
this couple, says : 

"They have a daughter, Sophie-Frederike, now near fifteen, 
and very forward for her age ; comely to look upon, wise to list- 
en to. l Is not she the suitable one V thinks Frederick in regard 
to this matter. ' Her kindred is of the oldest — old as Albert 
the Bear. She has been frugally brought up, Spartan-like, though 
as a princess by birth. Let her cease skipping ropes on the ram- 
parts yonder with her young Stettin playmates, and prepare for 
being a czarina of the Russias,' thinks he. And communicates 
his mind to the czarina, who answers, i Excellent ! How did I 
never think of that myself!' " 

This was in January, 1744. The young lady, with her moth- 
' er, by express invitation, and with this object in view, visited the 
Russian court. Sophia embraced the Greek religion, received 
in baptism the new name of Catharine, and on the 1st of Sep- 
tember, 1745, was married to her second cousin Peter. "And 
with invocation of the Russian heaven and Russian earth they 
were declared to be one flesh, though at last they turned out to 
be two fleslies, as my reader well knows."* 

* Carlyle. 

Ll 



530 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




THE EMPRESS CATHARINE. 



About a year before this, on 
the 17th of. July, 1744, Freder- 
ick's sister Ulrique had been 
married to Adolf Frederick, the 
heir-apparent to the throne of 
Sweden. Eighteen years of this 
weary world's history, with its 
wars and its woes, had since 
passed away. On the 5th of 
April, 1751, the old king of Swe- 
den died. Thus Adolf became 
king, and Frederick's sister Ul- 
rique Queen of Sweden. And 
now, on the 5th of January, 1762, 
the Empress of Russia died, and 
Peter III., with his wife Catha- 
rine, ascended the throne of that majestic empire. 

The withdrawal of Russia from the alliance against Frederick, 
though hailed by him with great joy, still left him, with wasted 
armies and exhausted finances, to struggle single-handed against 
Austria and France united, each of which kingdoms was far 
more powerful than Prussia. The winter passed rapidly away 
without any marked events, each party preparing for the open- 
ing of the campaign in the ensuing spring. On the 8th of June, 
1762, Frederick wrote to D'Argens: 

" In fine, my dear marquis, the job ahead of me is hard and 
difficult, and nobody can say positively how it will all go. Pray 
for us ; and don't forget a poor devil who kicks about strangely 
in his harness, who leads the life of one damned." 

Peter III. was a drunken, brutal, half-crazed debauchee. Cath- 
arine was a beautiful, graceful, intellectual, and dissolute woman. 
They hated each other. They did not even pretend to be faith- 
ful to each other. Catharine formed a successful conspiracy, de- 
throned her husband, and was proclaimed by the army sole em- 
press. After a series of the wildest scenes of intrigue, corrup- 
tion, and crime, the imbecile Peter III., who had fled to the re- 
mote palace of Ropscha, was murdered, being first compelled to 
drink of poison, and then, while writhing in pain, he was stran- 
gled with a napkin. Whether Catharine were a party to this 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



531 



assassination is a question which can now probably never be de- 
cided. It is certain that she must have rejoiced over the event, 
and that she richly rewarded the murderers. 




ASSASSINATION OF PETER III. 



In the following curious proclamation, the Empress Catharine 
II. announced to her subjects the death of her husband : 

" The seventh day after our accession to the throne of all the 
Russias we received information that the late emperor, Peter III., 
was attacked with a violent colic. That we might not be want- 
ing in Christian duty, or disobedient to the divine command by 
which we are enjoined to preserve the life of our neighbor, we 
immediately ordered that the said Peter should be furnished 
' with every thing that might be judged necessary to restore his 
health by the aids of medicine. But, to our great regret and af- 
, friction, we were yesterday evening apprized that, by permission 
of the Almighty, the late emperor departed this life." 

The seventh campaign of the Seven Years' War commenced 
on the 1st of July, 1762. Peter III. had sent an army of twenty 
thousand men to the support of Frederick. Aided by these 
troops, united with his own army, Frederick had emerged from 



532 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

his winter quarters, and was just about to attack the Austrian 
army, which was intrenched upon the heights of Burkersdorf, a 
little south of Sckweidnitz, which fortress the Austrians then 
held. The evening before the contemplated attack the Russian 
General Czernichef entered the tent of Frederick with the fol- 
lowing appalling tidings:. 

" There has been a revolution in St. Petersburg. The Czar 
Peter III., your majesty's devoted friend, has been deposed, and 
probably assassinated. The Czarina Catharine, influenced by 
the enemies of your majesty, and unwilling to become embroiled 
in a conflict with Austria and France, has ordered me to return 
instantly homeward with the twenty thousand troops under my 
command." 

For a moment the king was quite stunned by the blow. The 
withdrawal of these troops would expose him to be speedily 
overwhelmed by the Austrians. By earnest entreaty, Frederick 
persuaded Czernichef to remain with him three days longer. " I 
will require of you no service whatever. The Austrians know 
nothing of this change. They will think that you are still my 
ally. Your presence simply will thus aid me greatly in the bat- 
tle." 

General Czernichef, though at the risk of his head from the 
displeasure of Catharine, generously consented so far to disobey 
the orders of his empress. The next day, July 2, 1762, Freder- 
ick, with his remaining troops, attacked the foe, under General 
Daun, at Burkersdorf. From four o'clock in the morning until 
five in the afternoon the antagonistic hosts hurled themselves 
against each other. Frederick was the victor. " On fall of 
night, Daun, every body having had his orders, and been mak- 
ing his preparations for six hours past, ebbed totally away, in 
perfect order, bag and baggage; well away to southward, and 
left Frederick quit of him."* 

Early the next morning, Czernichef, greatly admiring the ex- 
ploit Frederick had performed, commenced his march home. 
Just before this there was a change in the British ministry, and 
the new cabinet clamored for peace. England entered into a 
treaty with France, and retired from the conflict. Frederick, ve- 
hemently upbraiding the English with treachery — the same kind 

* Carlyle. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 533 

of treachery of which he had repeatedly been guilty — marched 
upon Schweidnitz. After a vigorous siege of two months he 
captured the place. 

Nearly all of Silesia was again in the hands of Frederick. He 
seems to have paid no regard to the ordinary principles of honor 
in the accomplishment of his plans. Indeed, he seems to have 
had no delicate perceptions of right and wrong, no instinctive 
appreciation of what was honorable or dishonorable in human 
conduct. He coined adulterated money, which he compelled the 
people to take, but which he refused to receive in taxes. In his 
Military Instructions, drawn up by his own hand, he writes : 

"When you find it very necessary, yet very difficult, to gain 
any intelligence of the enemy, there is another expedient, though 
a cruel one. You take a rich burgher, possessed of rich lands, a 
wife, and children. You oblige him to go to the enemy's camp, 
as if to complain of hard treatment, and to take along with him, 
as his servant, a spy who speaks the language of the country ; 
assuring him at the same time that, in case he does not bring the 
spy back with him, after having remained a sufficient time in the 
enemy's camp, you will set fire to his house, and massacre his 
wife and children. I was forced to have recourse to this cruel 
expedient. It answered my purpose."* 

A man's moral nature must be indeed obtuse who could thus 
recommend the compulsion of a peaceable citizen to act the part 
of a traitor to his own country, under the alternative of having 
his house fired and his wife and children massacred. 

Winter was now approaching. The Austrians in Saxony 
made a desperate attack upon Prince Henry, and were routed 
with much loss. The shattered Austrian army retired to Bohe- 
mia for winter quarters. Under the circumstances, it was a vic- 
tory of immense importance to Frederick. Upon receiving the 
glad tidings, he wrote to Henry : 

" Your letter, my dear brother, has made me twenty years 
younger. Yesterday I was sixty, to-day hardly eighteen. I bless 
Heaven for preserving your health, and that things have passed 
so happily. It is a service so important rendered by you to the 
state that I can not enough express my gratitude, and will wait 
to do it in person." 

* Military Instructions, written by the King of Prussia, p. 1 76. 



534: FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

On the 24th of November the belligerents entered into an ar- 
mistice until the 1st of March. All were exhausted. It was 
manifest that peace would soon be declared. Commissioners to 
arrange the terms of peace met at the castle of Hubertsburg, near 
Dresden. On the 15th of February, 1763, peace w^as concluded. 
Frederick retained Silesia. That was the result of the war. 

According to Frederick's computation, he had succeeded in 
wresting this province from Maria Theresa at an expense of eight 
hundred and fifty-three thousand lives, actual fighters, who had 
perished upon the field of battle. Of these, one hundred and 
eighty thousand were Prussians. Of the hundreds of thousands 
of men, women, and children who, in consequence of the war, had 
perished of exposure, famine, and pestilence, no note is taken. 
The population of Prussia had diminished, during the seven 
years, five hundred thousand. 

The day in which the treaty was signed Frederick wrote to 
the Marquis D'Argens as follows : " The best thing I have now 
to tell you of, my dear marquis, is the peace. And it is right 
that the good citizens and the public should rejoice at it. For 
me, poor old man that I am, I return to a town where I know 
nothing but the walls, where I find no longer any of my friends, 
where great and laborious duties await me, and where I shall 
soon lay my old bones in an asylum which can neither be troub- 
led by war, by calamities, nor by the wickedness of men." 

Archenholtz, who was an eye-witness of the miseries which he 
describes, gives the following account of the state of Germany at 
the close of the conflict : 

" Whole provinces had been laid waste. Even in those which 
had not been thus destroyed, internal commerce and industry 
were almost at an end. A great part of Pomerania and Bran- 
denburg was changed into a desert. There were provinces 
where hardly any men were to be found, and where the women 
were therefore obliged to guide the plow. In others women 
were as much wanting as men. The most fertile plains of Ger- 
many, on the banks of the Oder and the Wesel, presented only 
the arid and sterile appearance of a desert. An officer has stated 
that he had passed through seven villages without meeting a 
single person excepting a curate.''* 

* Archenholtz, Histoire de la Guerre de Sept Ans. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



535 




THE OFFICER AND THE CURATE. 



On the loth of March, 1763, Frederick left Leipsic, and on the 
30th entered his capital of Berlin, from which he had been ab- 
sent six years. It was nine o'clock in the evening when his car- 
riage drove through the dark and silent streets to his palace. 
His arrival at that hour had not been anticipated. It is said 
that he repaired" immediately to the queen's apartment, where 
he met the several members of the royal family. As soon as it 
was known that the king had arrived, Berlin blazed with illu- 
minations and rang with rejoicings. 



536 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



CHAPTEE XXXIV. 

THE PARTITION OF POLAND. 

The King patronizes literary and scientific Men. — Anecdotes. — The Family Quarrel. — Birth of 
Frederick William III. — Rapid Recuperation of Prussia. — The King's Tour of Observation. — 
Desolate Aspect of the Country. — Absolutism of Frederick. — Interview between Frederick 
and D'Alembert. — Unpopularity of Frederick. — Death of the King of Poland. — Plans for the 
Partition of Poland. — Intrigues of Catharine. — Interview between Frederick and the Emperor 
Joseph. — Poland seized by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. — The Division of the Spoil. — Re- 
morse of Maria Theresa. — Indifference of Frederick to public Opinion. 

There still remained to Frederick twenty-three years of life. 
He now engaged very vigorously in the endeavor to repair the 
terrible ravages of war by encouraging agriculture, commerce, 
and all useful arts. He invited the distinguished French phi- 
losophers Helvetius and D'Alembert to visit his court, and en- 
deavored, though unavailingly, to induce them to take up their 
residence in Berlin. They were both in sympathy with the king 
in their renunciation of Christianity. 

There are many anecdotes of Frederick floating about in the 
journals whose authenticity can not be vouched for. The two 
following are doubtless authentic. Frederick, as he was riding 
through the streets of Berlin, saw a crowd looking upon a pic- 
ture which was posted high up on a wall. He requested -his 
groom to see what it was. The servant returned with the reply, 

" It is a caricature of your majesty, seated on a stool, with a 
coffee-mill between your knees, grinding with one hand, and pick- 
ing up the beans wdiich have fallen with the other." 

" Take it down," said the king, " and hang it lower, that the 
people may not hurt their necks in looking at it." 

The crowd heard what he said. With bursts of laughter they 
tore the caricature in pieces, scattered it to the winds, and greet- 
ed the king, as he rode away, with enthusiastic shouts of "Our 
Fritz forever." 

The Crown Prince Frederick had married the daughter of the 
Duke of Brunswick. She was a very beautiful, proud, high-spir- 
ited woman. Her husband was a worthless fellow, dissolute in 
the extreme. She, stung to madness, and unrestrained by Chris- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



537 




FREDERICK THE GREAT, MT. 59. 

tian principle, retaliated in kind. A divorce was the result. The 
discarded princess retired to the castle of Stettin, where she lived 
in comparative seclusion, though surrounded with elegance. 

Upon one occasion she ordered a very rich silk dress directly 
from Lyons. The custom-house dues were heavy. The custom- 
house officer detained the dress until the dues should be paid. 
The haughty princess, exceedingly indignant, sent an order to 
him to bring the dress instantly to her, and she would pay the 



538 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

demand. As soon as he entered her apartment, she snatched 
the dress from his hands, and with her open palm gave him two 
slaps in the face, ordering Him immediately to leave the house * 

The officer drew up a statement of the facts, and sent it to the 
king, with the complaint that he had been dishonored in dis- 
charging the duties intrusted to him by his majesty. The king 
sent the following reply : 

" To the custom-house officer at Stettin. The loss of the ex- 
cise dues shall fall to my score. The dress shall remain with 
the princess ; the slaps to him who received them. As to the 
pretended dishonor, I entirely relieve the complainant from that. 
Never can the appliance of a beautiful hand dishonor the face of 
an officer of customs." 

Frederick, with his own pen, gives the following account of 
this family quarrel, which resulted in the divorce of the Crown 
Prince and Elizabeth : 

" Not long ago we mentioned the Prince of Prussia's marriage 
with Elizabeth of Brunswick. The husband, young and disso- 
lute, given up to a profligate life, from which his relatives could 
not correct him, was continually committing infidelities to his 
wife. The princess, who was in the flower of her beauty, felt 
outraged by such neglect of her charms. Her vivacity and the 
good opinion she had of herself brought her upon the thought 
of avenging her wrongs by retaliation. Speedily she gave into 
excesses scarcely inferior to those of her husband. Family quar- 
rels broke out, and were soon publicly known. The antipathy 
which ensued took away all hope of succession. The brothers 
of the king, Henry and Ferdinand, avowed frankly that they 
would never consent to have, by some accidental birth, their 
rights of succession to the crown carried off. In the eiid, there 
was nothing for it but proceeding to a divorce."f 

Within three months after the divorce, the Crown Prince, anx- 
ious for an heir, married, on the 18th of April, 1769, the Princess 
Frederica Louisa, of Hesse-Darmstadt. A son was born to them, 
who became Frederick William III. 

* "Northern tourists, Wraxall and others, passing that way, speak of this princess down to 
recent times as a phenomenon of the place. Apparently a high and peremptory kind of lady, 
disdaining to be bowed too low by her disgraces. She survived all her generation, and the 
next and the next, and, indeed, into our own. Died 18th February, 1840, at the age of ninety- 
six." — Carlyle. t (Euvres de Frederic, t. vi., p. 23. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 539 

Under the energetic administration of Frederick, Prussia be- 
gan, very rapidly, to recover from the desolation which had over- 
whelmed it. The coin, in a little more than a year, was restored 
to its purity. In the course of two years Frederick rebuilt, in 
different parts of his realms, fourteen thousand five hundred 
houses. The army horses were distributed among the impover- 
ished farmers for plow teams. Early in June, 1763, the king set 
out on a general tour of inspection. 

s "To form an idea," he writes, "of the general subversion, and 
how great were the desolation and discouragement, you must 
represent to yourself countries entirely ravaged, the very traces 
of the old habitations hardly discoverable. Of the towns some 
were ruined from top to bottom ; others half destroyed by fire. 
Of thirteen thousand houses the very vestiges were gone. There 
was no field in seed, no grain for the food of the inhabitants. 
Sixty thousand horses were needed if there were to be plowing 
carried on. In the provinces generally there were half a million 
population less than in 1756; that is to say, upon four millions 
and a half the ninth man was wanting. Noble and peasant had 
been pillaged, ransomed, foraged, eaten out by so many different 
armies ; nothing now left them but life and miserable rags. 

" There was no credit by trading people even for the necessa- 
ries of life. There was no police in the towns. To habits of 
equity and order there had succeeded a vile greed of gain and 
an anarchic disorder. The silence of the laws had produced in 
the people a taste for license. Boundless appetite for gain was 
their main rule of action. The noble, the merchant, the farmer, 
the laborer, raising emulously each the price of his commodity, 
seemed to endeavor only for their mutual ruin. Such, when the 
war ended, was the fatal spectacle over these provinces, which 
had once been so flourishing. However pathetic the description 
may be, it will never approach the touching and sorrowful im- 
pression which the sight of it produced." 

The absolutism of Frederick placed all legislative, judicial, and 
executive powers in his hands. He was law-maker, judge, and 
executioner. The liberty, property, and lives of his subjects 
were at his disposal. He could call others to assist him in the 
government, but they were merely servants to do his bidding. 

" During the war," writes Frederick, " the councilors and min- 



540 FKEDERICK THE GREAT. 

isters had successively died. In such time of trouble it had been 
impossible to replace them. The embarrassment was to find per- 
sons capable of filling these different employments. We search- 
ed the provinces, where good heads were found as rare as in the 
capital. At length iive chief ministers were pitched upon." 

The rich abbeys of the Roman Catholics were compelled to 
establish manufactures for weaving damasks and table-cloths. 
Some were converted into oil-mills, or " workers in copper, wire- 
drawers, the flaxes and metals, with water-power, markets, and 
so on." 

While on this tour of inspection, the celebrated French philos- 
opher D'Alembert, by appointment, met the king at Geldern, 
and accompanied him to Potsdam. D'Aleinbeit was in entire 
sympathy with the king in his renunciation of Christianity. In 
1755 D'Alembert had, by invitation, met Frederick at Wesel, on 
the Rhine. In a letter to Madame Du Deffand, at Paris, elated 
Potsdam, June 25, 1763, D'Alembert wrote : 

" I will not go into the praises of King Frederick, now my 
host. I will merely send you two traits of him, which will in- 
dicate his way of thinking and feeling. When I spoke to him 
of the glory which he had acquired, he answered, with the great- 
est simplicity, 

"'There is a furious discount to be' deducted from said glory. 
Chance came in for almost the whole of it. I would far rather 
have written Racine's Atlialie than have performed all- the 
achievements of this war.' 

"The other trait I have to give you is this. On the 15th of 
February last, the day of concluding this peace, which is so glo- 
rious to him, some one said to him, ' It is the finest day of your 
majesty's life.' The king replied, 

" 'The finest day of life is the day on which one quits it.' "* 

Helvetius, another of the distinguished French deistical philos- 
ophers, was invited to Berlin to assist the king in his financial 
operations. To aid the mechanics in Berlin, and to show to the 
world that the king was not so utterly impoverished as many 
imagined, Frederick, on the 11th of June, 1763, laid the founda- 
tion of the sumptuous edifice called " The New Palace of Sans 
Souci." 

* (Euvres Posthumes de D'Alembert, t. i., p. 197, cited by Carlyle, vol. vi., p 283. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 541 

Frederick, though now at peace with, all the world, found no 
nation in cordial alliance with him. He had always disliked 
England, and England returned the dislike with interest. The 
Duchess of Pompadour, who controlled France, hated him. Ma- 
ria Theresa regarded him as a highway robber who had snatched 
Silesia from her and escaped with it. Frederick, thus left with- 
out an ally, turned to his former subject, now Catharine II., 
whom he had placed on the throne of Russia. On the 11th of 
April, 1764, one year after the close of the Seven Years' War, he 
entered into a treaty of alliance with the Czarina Catharine. 
The treaty was to continue eight years. In case either of the 
parties became involved in war, the other party was to furnish 
a contingent of twelve thousand men, or an equivalent in money. 

On the 5th of October, 1763, Augustus, the unhappy King of 
Poland, had died at Dresden, after a troubled reign of thirty 
years. The crown was elective. The turbulent nobles, broken 
up into antagonistic and envenomed cliques, were to choose a 
successor. Catharine, as ambitious as she was able and unprin- 
cipled, resolved to place one of her creatures upon the throne, 
that Poland, a realm spreading over a territory of 284,000 square 
miles, and containing a population of 20,000,000, might be vir- 
tually added to her dominions. Carlyle writes : 

" My own private conjecture, I confess, has rather grown to be, 
on much reading of those Sulhieres and distracted books, that 
the czarina — who was a grandiose creature, with considerable 
magnanimities, natural and acquired; with many ostentations, 
some really great qualities and talents ; in effect, a kind of she 
Louis Quatorze (if the reader will reflect on that royal gentle- 
man, and put him into petticoats in Russia, and change his im- 
proper females for improper males) — that the czarina, very clear- 
ly resolute to keep Poland hers, had determined with herself to 
do something very handsome in regard to Poland ; and to gain 
glory, both with the enlightened philosophe classes and with her 
own proud heart, by her treatment of that intricate matter." 

In the court of the czarina there was a very handsome young 
Pole, Stanislaus Poniatowski, who had been an acknowledged 
lover of Catharine. Though Catharine had laid him aside for 
other favorites, she still regarded him with tender feelings. He 
was just the man to do her bidding. .By skillful diplomacy she 



542 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

caused him to be elected King of Poland. That kingdom was 
now entirely in her hands, so far as it was in the power of its 
monarch to place it there. 

This, however, stirred up great strife in Poland. The nobles 
were roused. Scenes of confusion ensued. The realm was 
plunged into a state of anarchy. Frederick, being in cordial co- 
operation with the czarina in all her measures, instructed his 
minister in Warsaw to follow her policy in every particular. It 
has generally been supposed that Frederick was the first to pro- 
pose the banditti division of the kingdom of Poland between 
Prussia, Russia, and Austria by means of their united armies. 
This is not certain. But, whoever may have at first made the 
suggestion, it is very certain that Frederick cordially and effi- 
ciently embarked in the. enterprise.* 

Poniatowski was elected King of Poland on the 7th of Sep- 
tember, 1764, and crowned on the 25th of November. He was 
then thirty-two years of age, and the scarcely disguised agent of 
Catharine. Two or three years passed of wars and rebellions, 
and all the usual tumult of this tumultuous world. In August, 
1765, the Emperor Francis died. He was at Innspriick, attend- 
ing the marriage festivities of his second son Leopold. About 
nine o'clock in the evening of the 18th, while sauntering through 
the rooms in the midst of the brilliant gala, he was struck with 
apoplexy. He staggered for a moment, fell into the hands of his 
son Joseph, and instantly died. 

Joseph, the oldest son of Maria Theresa and Francis, by the 
will of his mother became emperor. But Maria Theresa still 
swayed the sceptre of imperial power, through the hands of her 
son, as she had formerly done through the hands of her amiable 
and pliant husband. The young emperor was fond of traveling. 
He visited all the battle-fields of the Seven Years' War, and put 
up many monuments. Through his minister at Berlin, he ex- 
pressed his particular desire to make the acquaintance of Freder- 
ick. The interview took place at Neisse on the 25th of August, 
1769. His majesty received the young emperor on the grand 
staircase of the palace, where they cordially embraced each other. 

" Now are my wishes fulfilled," said the emperor, " since I have 
the honor to embrace the greatest of kings and soldiers." 

* Histoire ou Anecdotes sur la Revolution de Russie en lannee 1762, par M. Rulhiere. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 543 

" I look upon this day," the king replied, " as the fairest of my 
life ; for it will become the epoch of uniting two houses which 
have been enemies too long, and whose mutual interests require 
that they should strengthen, not weaken, one another." 

There were dinner-parties, and military reviews, and operas to 
beguile the time. The interview lasted three days. The king 
and the emperor often walked out arm in arm. Frederick wrote : 

"The emperor has a frankness of manner which seems natural 
to him. In his amiable character, gayety and great vivacity are 
prominent features." 

Under cover of these festivities important political matters 
were discussed. The question of the partition of Poland arose, 
and arrangements were made for another interview. Soon after 
this, Frederick sent to Catharine a sketch of a plan for partition- 
ing several provinces in Poland — Russia, Prussia, and Austria 
each taking a share. " To which Petersburg, intoxicated with 
its own outlooks on Turkey, paid not the least attention."* The 
second interview, of five days, commenced on the 3d of Septem- 
ber, 1770, at Neustadt, near Austerlitz, which has since become 
so famous. 

The Prince De Ligne, in a long letter to Stanislaus, King of 
Poland, gives an interesting account of several conversations 
which ensued. In this narrative he writes : 

" I forget how the conversation changed. But I know that it 
grew so free that, seeing somebody coming to join in it, the king 
warned him to take care, saying that it was not safe to converse 
with a man doomed by the theologians to everlasting fire. I felt 
as if he somewhat overdid this of his ' being doomed,' and that 
he boasted too much of it. Not to hint at the dishonesty of 
these free-thinking gentlemen, who very often are thoroughly 
afraid of the devil, it is at least bad taste to make display of such 
things. And it was with the people of bad taste whom he had 
about him, and some dull skeptics of his own academy, that he 
had acquired the habit of mocking at religion." 

The king was not a little vain of the keen thrusts he could 
occasionally give the clergy. In a letter to Marie- An toine, Elect- 
ress of Saxony, dated Potsdam, May 3, 1768, he, with much ap- 
parent complacency, records the following witty achievement : 

* (Euvres de Frederic, t. vi., p. 26. 



544 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" It is a pity for the human race, madam, that men never can 
be tranquil. But they never can be any where. Even the lit- 
tle town of Neufchatel has had its troubles. Your royal high- 
ness will be astonished to learn how. A parson there had set 
forth in a sermon that, considering the immense mercy of God, 
the pains of hell could not last forever. The synod shouted 
murder at such scandal, and has been struggling ever since to 
get the parson exterminated. The affair was of my jurisdiction, 
for your royal highness must know that I am pope in that coun- 
try. Here is my decision : 

"'Let the parsons who make for themselves a cruel and bar- 
barous God be eternally damned, as they desire and deserve; 
and let those parsons who conceive God gentle and merciful en- 
joy the plenitude of his mercy. 7 

" However, madam, my sentence has failed to calm the minds. 
The schism continues, and the number of damnatory theologians 
prevail over the others."* 

The king could be very courteous. He gave a dinner-party, 
at which General Loudon, one of the most efficient of the Aus- 
trian generals, and who had often been successfully opposed to 
Frederick, was a guest. As he entered the king said, 

" General Loudon, take a seat by my side. I had much rather 
have you with me than opposite me." Mettez vous aupres de 
moi. J^aiine mieux vous avoir a cote de moi que vis-a-vis. f 

Catharine was at this time engaged vigorously in a war with 
the Turks. Frederick, by his treaty with the czarina, was com- 
pelled to assist her. This ambitious woman, endowed with ex- 
traordinary powers, was pushing her conquests toward Constan- 
tinople, having formed the resolve to annex that imperial city to 
the empire, and thus to open through the Straits of the'Bospho- 
rus and the Dardanelles new avenues for Russian commerce. 

Count Von Kaunitz, an able but proud and self-conceited man, 
was prime minister of the Emperor of Germany. His command- 
ing mind exerted quite a controlling influence over his imperial 
master. Kaunitz records the following conversation as having 
taken place at this interview between himself and Frederick: J 

* Correspondance avec VElectrice Marie- Antoine. f Pezzl, Vie de Loudon, vol. ii., p. 29. 

% " Kaunitz," writes Frederick, "had a clear intellect, greatly twisted by perversities of tem- 
per, especially by a self-conceit and arrogance which were boundless. He did not talkj but 
preach. At the smallest interruption he would stop short in indignant surprise. It has hap- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 545 

" These Russian encroachments upon the Turk," said Kaunitz, 
" are dangerous to the repose of Europe. His imperial majesty 
can never consent that Russia should possess the provinces of 
Moldavia and Wallachia. He will much rather go to war. 
These views of Russia are infinitely dangerous to every body. 
They are as dangerous to your majesty as to others. I can con- 
ceive of no remedy against them but this. Prussia and Austria 
must join frankly in protest and absolute prohibition of them." 

"I have nothing more at heart," Frederick replied," than to 
stand well with Austria. I wish always to be her ally, never 
her enemy. But the prince sees how I am situated. Bound by 
express treaty with her czarish majesty, I must go with Russia in 
any war. I will do every thing in my power to conciliate her 
majesty with the emperor — to secure such a peace at St. Peters- 
burg as may meet the wishes of Vienna."* 

Singularly enough, the very next day Frederick received an 
express from the Divan requesting him, with the aid of Austria, 
to mediate peace with Russia. The Turks had encountered such 
reverses that they were anxious to sheathe the sword. Freder- 
ick with great joy undertook the mediation. But he found the 
mediation far more difficult than he had imagined. Catharine 
and Maria Theresa, so totally different in character, entertained 
a rooted aversion to each other. The complications were so great 
that month after month the deliberations were continued un- 
availingly. Maria Theresa was unrelentingly opposed to the ad- 
vance of Russia upon Constantinople. 

Thus, originated with the Empress Catharine, one hundred 
years ago, the idea of driving the Turks out of Europe, and of 
annexing Constantinople to her majestic empire. From that 
time until now the question has been increasingly agitating the 
courts of Europe. Every day, now, the " Eastern Question" is 
assuming greater importance. The following map very clear- 
ly shows the commanding position of Constantinople, and the 
immense strength, both in a military and a commercial point of 
view, it would give to the Russian empire. 

Meneval, private secretary of Napoleon I., records that, in one 

pened that at the council-board in Schonbrunn, when her imperial majesty has asked some ex- 
planation of a word or thing not understood by her, Kaunitz made his bow and quitted the room." 
* (Euvres de Frederic, t. xxvi., p. 30. 

Mm 



546 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




of the interviews of the emperor with Alexander, the czar offered 
to co-operate with Napoleon in all his plans if the emperor would 
consent that Russia should take Constantinople. The French 
emperor replied, after a moment's hesitation, 

" Constantinople ! never. It is the empire of the world." 
There can be but little doubt, however, that the Bosphorus 
and the Dardanelles will ere long be in the hands of Russia. 
" I know that I or my successors," said the Czar Nicholas, " must 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 547 

have Constantinople. You might as well arrest a stream in its 
descent from a mountain as the Russians in their advance to the 
Hellespont."* 

There was a famine in Poland, and the famine was followed 
by pestilence. A general state of tumult and discord ensued. 
Maria Theresa had gathered a large army on the frontiers of 
Hungary to watch the designs of Russia upon Turkey. Avail- 
ing herself of this disturbed state of Poland, Maria Theresa 
marched her troops into one of its provinces called Zips, which 
had once belonged to Hungary, and quietly extended her bound- 
aries around the acquisition. Catharine was much exasperated 
by the measure. 

The czarina had, about that time, invited Prince Henry, the 
warlike brother of Frederick, to visit her. They had met as chil- 
dren when the czarina w^as daughter of the commandant at Stet- 
tin. Henry was received with an extraordinary display of im- 
perial magnificence. In the midst of this routine of feasting, 
balls, and masquerades, Catharine one day said to Henry, with 
much pique, referring to these encroachments on the part of Ma- 
ria Theresa, 

"It seems that in Poland the Austrian s have only to stoop 
and pick up what they like. If the court of Vienna has the in- 
tention to dismember that kingdom, its neighbors will have the 
right to take their share."f 

Frederick caught eagerly at the suggestion, as the remark was 
reported to him by his brother. He drew up a new plan of par- 
tition, which he urged with all his powers of address upon both 
Russia and Austria. The conscience of Maria Theresa was strong- 
ly opposed to the deed. Catharine and Kaunitz were very greedy 
in their demands. Circumstances assumed such an aspect that 
it was very difficult for Maria Theresa to oppose the measure. 
At length, through the extraordinary efforts of Frederick, on the 
5th of August, 1772, the following agreement was adopted: 

Russia took 87,500 square miles. Austria received 62,500. 
The share which fell to Frederick was but 9456 square miles. 
Small in respect to territory as was Frederick's share, it was re- 
garded, in consequence of its position and the nature of the coun- 
try, equally valuable with the other portions. 

* Schnitzler, vol. ii. , p. 247. t CEuvres de Frederic, t. xxvi. , p. 345. 



548 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" Frederick's share," writes Mr. Carlyle, " as an anciently Teu- 
tonic country, and as filling up the always dangerous gap be- 
tween his Ost Prussen and him, has, under Prussian administra- 
tion, proved much the most valuable of the three, and, next to 
Silesia, is Frederick's most important acquisition." 

In carrying out these measures of partition, which the world 
has usually regarded as one of the most atrocious acts of robbery 
on record, resort was had both to bribery and force. The King 
of Poland was the obsequious servant of Catharine. A common 
fund was raised by the three powers to bribe the members of 
the Polish diet. Each of the confederate powers also sent an 
army to the Polish frontiers, ready to unite and crush the dis- 
tracted people should there be any forcible resistance. Thus 
the deed was accomplished. 

Maria Theresa was a devout woman, governed by stern con- 
victions of duty. Her moral nature recoiled from this atrocious 
act. But she felt driven to it by the pressure brought upon her 
by her own cabinet, her powerful and arrogant prime minister, 
and by the courts of Prussia and Russia. While, therefore, very 
reluctantly giving her assent to the measure, she issued the fol- 
lowing extraordinary document : 

"When all my lands were invaded, and I knew not where in 
the world to be brought to bed in, I relied on my good right 
and the help of God. But in this thing, where not only public 
law cries to Heaven against us, but also all natural justice, and 
sound reason, I must confess never in my life to have been in 
such trouble, and I am ashamed to show my face. Let the 
prince (Kaunitz) consider what an example we are giving to all 
the world, if, for a miserable piece of Poland, or of Moldavia, or 
Wallachia, we throw our honor and reputation to the winds. I 
see well that I am alone, and no more in vigor. Therefore I 
must, though to my very great sorrow, let things take their 
course."* 

A few days afterward, in an official document, she writes : " I 
consent, since so many great and learned men will have it so. 
But long after I am dead, it will be known what this violating 
of all that was hitherto held sacred and just will give rise to."f 

* Hormayr, Taschenbuch, 1831, S. 66, cited by Dr. J. D. E. Preuss, Historiographer of Bran- 
denburg, in his life of Friedrich der Grosse, vol. iv., p. 38. f Preuss, vol. iv., p. 39. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 549 

Frederick had cultivated a supreme indifference to public 
opinion. Not believing in any God, in any future retribution, 
or in any immortality, and regarding men merely as the insects 
of an hour, like the myriad polyps which, beneath the ocean, rear 
their stupendous structures and perish, his sense of right and 
wrong must necessarily have been very different from that which 
a believer in the Christian faith is accustomed to cherish. In 
allusion to this subject, he writes : 

" A new career came to open itself to me. And one must 
have been either without address or buried in stupidity not to 
have profited by an opportunity so advantageous. I seized this 
unexpected opportunity by the forelock. By dint of negotiating 
and intriguing, I succeeded in indemnifying our monarchy for its 
past losses by incorporating Polish Prussia with my old prov- 
inces. This acquisition was one of the most important we could 
make, because it joined Pommern to East Prussia, and because, 
rendering us masters of the Weichsel River, we gained the 
double advantage of being able to defend that kingdom (East 
Prussia), and to draw considerable tolls from the Weichsel, as 
all the trade of Poland goes by that river." 

The region thus annexed to Prussia was in a deplorable state 
of destitution and wretchedness. Most of the towns were in 
ruins. War had so desolated the land that thousands of the 
people were living in the cellars of their demolished houses. 

"The country people hardly knew such a thing as bread. 
Many had never tasted such a delicacy. Few villages possessed 
an oven. A weaving-loom was rare ; a spinning-wheel unknown. 
The main article of furniture in this bare scene of squalor was 
a crucifix, and a vessel of holy water under it. It was a desolate 
land, without discipline, without law, without a master. On 
nine thousand English square miles lived five hundred thousand 
souls — not fifty-five to the square mile."* 

With extraordinary energy and sagacity Frederick set about 
developing the resources of his new acquisition. Houses were 
built. Villages rose as by magic. Marshes were drained. Em- 
igrants, in large numbers, mechanics and farmers, were transport- 
ed to the new lands. Canals were dug. Roads were improved, 
and new ones opened. One hundred and eighty-seven school- 

* G. Freytag, Neue Bilder aus dem Leben des deutschenVolkes, cited by Carlyle, vol. vi., p. S78. 



550 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

masters were sent into the country. Every where there was 
plowing, ditching, building. 

" As Frederick's seven years' struggle of war may be called 
superhuman, so was there also, in his present labor of peace, 
something enormous, which appeared to his contemporaries al- 
most preternatural, at times inhuman. It was grand, but also 
terrible, that the success of the whole was to him, at all mo- 
ments, the one thing to be striven after. The comfort of the in- 
dividual was of no concern at all."* 

The weal or woe of a single human polyp was, in the view of 
Frederick, entirely unimportant in comparison with the great 
enterprises he was ambitious of achieving. For this dismember- 
ment of Poland Frederick was severely assailed in a book enti- 
tled " Polish Dialogues." In answer to a letter from Voltaire, 
he wrote, under date of March 2, 1775 : 

"The f Polish Dialogues' you speak of are not known to me. 
I think of such satires with Epictetus, ' If they tell any truth of 
thee, correct thyself. If they are lies, laugh at them.' I have 
learned, with years, to become a steady coach-horse. I do my 
stage like a diligent roadster, and pay no heed to the little dogs 
.that will bark by the way." 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

LIFE'S CLOSING SCENES. 

Character of the Crown Prince. — Stratagem of the Emperor Joseph II. — Death of the Empress 
Catharine of Russia. — Matrimonial Alliance of Russia and Prussia. — Death of the King of 
Bavaria. — Attempt to Annex Bavaria to Austria.— Unexpected Energy of Frederick. — Court 
Intrigues. — Preparations for War. — Address to the Troops. — Declaration of War. — Terror 
in Vienna. — Irritability of Frederick. — Death of Voltaire. — Unjust Condemnation of the 
Judges. — Death of Maria Theresa. — Anecdote. — The King's Fondness for Children. — His 
Fault-finding Spirit. — The King's Appearance. — The Last Review. — Statement of Mirabeau. 
— Anecdote related by Dr. Moore.— Frederick's Fondness for Dogs. — Increasing Weakness. 
— Unchanging Obduracy toward the Queen. — The Dying Scene. 

Toward the end of the year 1775 the king had an unusually 
severe attack of the gout. It was erroneously reported that it 
was a dangerous attack of the dropsy, and that he was manifest- 
ly drawing near to his end. The Crown Prince, who was to 
succeed him, was a man of very little character. The Emperor 

* Freytag, p. 397. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 551 

of Germany, Joseph IX* thought the death of Frederick would 
present him an opportunity of regaining Silesia for Austria. 
The Austrian army was immediately put in motion and hurried 
to the frontiers of Silesia, to seize the province the moment the 
king should expire. This was openly done, and noised abroad. 
Much to the disappointment of the emperor, the king got well. 
Amidst much ridicule, the troops returned to their old quarters.* 

Frederick was probably not surprised at this act on the part 
of the emperor. He undoubtedly had sufficient candor to admit 
that it was exactly what he should have done under similar cir- 
cumstances. 

Catharine of Russia had a son, Paul, her heir to the throne. 
It so chanced that she died just at the time Prince Henry of 
Prussia was visiting St. Petersburg. Through his agency Paul 
was induced to take as a second wife a niece of Frederick's, the 
eldest daughter of Eugene of Wlirtemberg. Thus the ties be- 
tween Russia and Prussia were still more strengthened, so far as 
matrimonial alliances could strengthen them. The wedding 
took place in Berlin on the 18th of October, 1776. 

Several years now passed away with nothing specially worthy 
of record. Frederick did not grow more amiable as he advanced 
in years. Though Frederick was often unreasonable, petulant, 
and unjust, and would seldom admit that he had been in the 
wrong, however clear the case, it can not be doubted that it was 
his general and earnest desire that justice should be exercised 
in all his courts. 

In September, 1777, the King of Bavaria died. The emperor 
thought it a good opportunity to annex Bavaria to Austria. 
"Do but look on the map," says Carlyle, in his peculiar style of 
thought and expression: "you would say, Austria without Ba- 
varia is like a human figure with its belly belonging to some- 
body else. Bavaria is the trunk or belly of the Austrian domin- 
ions, shutting off all the limbs of them each from the other; 
making for central part a huge chasm." 

France would hardly object, since she was exhausted with 
long wars. England was busy in the struggle with her North 
American colonies. Russia was at war with the Turks. There 
was no power to be feared but Prussia. 

* (Euvres de Frederic, t. vi., p. 124. 



552 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

" Frederick," said Kaunitz, " is old and broken. He can not 
live long. Having suffered so much, he has an absolute horror 
of war. We need not fear that he will again put his armies in 
motion." 

But no sooner did Frederick get an intimation that Austria 
was contemplating this enlargement of her domains than he 
roused himself to prevent it with, all the vigor of his earlier 
years. It was a very delicate matter ; for Charles Theodore, the 
elector, and his nephew August Christian, heir to the electorate, 
a young gentleman of very illustrious pedigree, but of a very 
slender purse, had both been bribed by Austria secretly to co- 
operate in the movement. The reader will be interested in Car- 
lyle's account, slightly abbreviated, of Frederick's skill in di- 
plomacy : 

"Heir is a gallant enough young gentleman. Frederick judges 
that he probably will have haggled to sign any Austrian con- 
vention for dismemberment of Baiern, and that he will start into 
life upon it so soon as he sees hope. 

" ' A messenger to him,' thinks Frederick ; ' a messenger in- 
stantly ; and who V For that clearly is the first thing. And a 
delicate thing it is ; requiring to be done in profoundest secrecy, 
by hint and innuendo rather than speech — by somebody in a 
cloak of darkness, who is of adroit quality, and was never heard 
of in diplomatic circles before, not to be suspected of having 
business of mine on hand. 

"Frederick bethinks him that in a late visit to Weimar he 
had. noticed, for his fine qualities, a young gentleman named 
Gortz, late tutor to the young Duke Karl August, a wise, firm, 
adroit-looking young gentleman, who was farther interesting as 
brother to Lieutenant General Von Gortz, a respectable 'soldier 
of Frederick's. Ex-tutor at Weimar, we say, and idle for the 
moment ; hanging about court there, till he should find a new 
function. 

" Of this ex-tutor Frederick bethinks him ; and in the course 
of that same day— for there is no delay — Frederick, who is at 
Berlin, beckons General Gortz to come over to him from Pots- 
dam instantly. 

" ' Hither this evening, and in all privacy meet me in the pal- 
ace at such an hour' (hour of midnight or thereby) ; which of 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 553 

course Gortz, duly invisible to mankind, does. Frederick ex- 
plains: an errand to Mtinchen; perfectly secret, for the moment, 
and requiring great delicacy and address ; perhaps not without 
risk, a timorous man might say: will your brother go for me, 
think you ? Gortz thinks he will. 

" ' Here is his instruction, if so,' adds the king, handing him an 
autograph of the necessary outline of procedure — not signed, nor 
with any credential, or even specific address, lest accident hap- 
pen. ' Adieu, then, herr general lieutenant ; rule is, shoes of 
swiftness, cloak of darkness : adieu !■' 

"And Gortz senior is off on the instant, careering toward 
Weimar, where he finds Gortz junior, and makes known his er- 
rand. Gortz junior stares in the natural astonishment; but, aft. 
er some intense brief deliberation, becomes affirmative, and in a 
minimum of time is ready and on the road. 

"Gortz junior proved to have been an excellent choice on the 
king's part, and came to good promotion afterward by his con- 
duct in this affair. Gortz junior started for Miinchen on the in- 
stant, masked utterly, or his business masked, from profane eyes ; 
saw this person, saw that, and glided swiftly about, swiftly and 
with sure aim ; and speedily kindled the matter, and had smoke 
rising in various points. And before January was out, saw the 
Reisch-Diet, at Regensburg, much more the general gazetteerage 
every where, seized of this affair, and thrown into paroxysms at 
the size and complexion of it : saw, in fact, a world getting into 
flame- — kindled by whom or what nobody could guess for a long 
time to come. Gortz had great running about in his cloak of 
darkness, and showed abundant talent of the kind needed. A 
pushing, clear-eyed, stout-hearted man; much cleverness and 
sureness in what he did and forebore to do. His adventures 
were manifold ; he had much traveling about : was at Regens- 
burg, at Mannheim ; saw many persons whom he had to judge 
of on the instant, and speak frankly to, or speak darkly, or speak 
nothing ; and he made no mistake. 

"We can not afford the least narrative of Gortz and his courses: 
imagination, from a few traits, will sufficiently conceive them. 
He had gone first to Karl Theodor's minister: 'Dead to it, I fear ; 
has alread}^signed V Alas ! yes. Upon which to Zweibriick, the 
heir's minister, whom his master had distinctly ordered to sign, 



554 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

but who, "at his own peril, gallant man, delayed, remonstrated, 
had not yet done it ; and was able to answer : 

" 'Alive to it, he ? Yes, with a witness, were there hope in the 
world I! which threw Gortz upon instant gallop toward Zvvei- 
briick Schloss in search of said heir, the young Duke August 
Christian ; who, however, had left in the interim (summoned by 
his uncle, on Austrian urgency, to consent along with him), but 
whom Gortz, by dexterity and intuition of symptoms, caught up 
by the road, with what a mutual joy ! As had been expected, 
August Christian, on sight of Gortz, with an armed Frederick 
looming in the distance, took at once into new courses and ac- 
tivities. From him no consent now ; far other : treaty with Fred- 
erick ; flat refusal ever to consent : application to the Reich, ap- 
plication even to France, and whatever a gallant young fellow 
could do. 

"Frederick was in very weak health in these months; still 
considered by the gazetteers to be dying. But it appears he is 
not yet too weak for taking, on the instant necessary, a world- 
important resolution; and of being on the road with it, to this 
issue or to that, at full speed before the day closed. ' Desist, 
good neighbor, I beseech you. You must desist, and even you 
shall :' this resolution was entirely his own, as were the equally 
prompt arrangements he contrived for executing it, should hard 
come to hard, and Austria prefer war to doing justice."* 

While pushing these intrigues of diplomacy, Frederick was 
equally busy in marshaling his armies, that the sword might con- 
tribute its energies to the enforcement of his demands. One 
hundred thousand troops were assembled in Berlin, in the high- 
est state of discipline and equipment, ready to march at a mo- 
ment's warning. 

On Sunday, April 5, 1778, Frederick reviewed these troops, 
and addressed his officers in a speech, which was published in 
the newspapers to inform Austria what she had to expect. Ea- 
ger as Frederick was to enlarge his own dominions, he was by 
no means disposed to grant the same privilege to otlier and rival 
nations. The address of Frederick to his officers was in reality 
a declaration to the Austrian court. 

" Gentlemen," said Frederick," I have assembled you here for a 

* Carlyle, vol. vi., p. 446-449. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 555 

public object. Most of you, like myself, have often been in amis 
with one another, and are grown gray in the service of our coun- 
try. To all of us is well known in what dangers, toils, and re- 
nown we have been fellow-sharers. I doubt not in the least that 
all of you, as myself, have a horror of bloodshed ; but the dan- 
ger which now threatens our countries not only renders it a duty, 
but puts us in the absolute necessity, to adopt the quickest and 
most effectual means for dissipating at the right time the storm 
which threatens to break out upon us. 

" I depend with complete confidence on your soldierly and pa- 
triotic zeal, which is already well and gloriously known to me, 
and which, while I live, I will acknowledge with the heartiest 
satisfaction. Before all things I recommend to you, and prescribe 
as your most sacred duty, that in every situation you exercise 
humanity on unarmed enemies. In this respect, let there be the 
strictest discipline kept among those under you. 

" To travel with the pomp of a king is not among my wishes, 
and all of you are aware that I have no pleasure in rich field- 
furniture ; but my increasing age, and the weakness it brings, 
render me incapable of riding as I did in my youth. I shall, 
therefore, be obliged to make use of a post-chaise in times of 
marching, and all of you have liberty to do the same. But on 
the day of battle you shall see me on horseback ; and there, also, 
I hope my generals will follow that example." 

Kaunitz, the Austrian prime minister, was by no means pre- 
pared for this decisive action. In less than a week Frederick 
had one hundred thousand soldiers on the frontiers. Austria 
had not ten thousand. there to meet them. Kaunitz, quite alarm- 
ed, assumed a supplicatory tone, and called for negotiation. 

"Must there be war?" he said. "I am your majesty's friend. 
Can we not, in mutual concession, find agreement V 

The result was a congress of three persons, two Prussians and 
one Austrian, which congress met at Berlin on the 24th of May, 
1778. For two months they deliberated. The Austrians im- 
proved the delay in making very vigorous preparations for war. 
Frederick really wished to avoid the war, for he had seen enough 
of the woes of battle. They could come to no agreement. 

On the 3d of July Frederick issued his declaration of war. 
On that very day his solid battalions, one hundred thousand 



556 EKEDEKICK THE GREAT. 

strong, with menacing banners and defiant bugle - notes, crossed 
the border, and encamped on Bohemian ground. At the same 
moment, the king's brother, Prince Henry, with another army of 
one hundred thousand men, commenced a march from the west 
to co-operate in an impetuous rush upon Vienna. These tidings 
caused the utmost consternation in the Austrian capital. An 
eye-witness writes : 

" The terror in Vienna was dreadful. I will not attempt to 
describe the dismay the tidings excited among all ranks of peo- 
ple. Maria Theresa, trembling for her two sons who were in the 
army, immediately dispatched an autograph letter to Frederick 
with new proposals for a negotiation." 

Frederick had not grown old gracefully. He was domineer- 
ing, soured, and irritable, finding fault with every body and ev- 
ery thing. As his troops were getting into camp at Jaromirtz 
on the 8th of July, the king, weary with riding, threw himself 
upon the ground for a little rest, his adjutants being near him. 
A young officer was riding by. Frederick beckoned to him, and 
wrote, with his pencil, an order of not the slightest importance, 
and said to the officer, aloud, in the hearing of all, purposely to 
wound their feelings, 

" Here, take that order to General Lossow, and tell him that 
he is not to take it ill that I trouble him, as I have none in my 
suite that can do any thing." It often seemed to give Frederick 
pleasure, and never pain, to wound the feelings of others. 

" On arriving with his column," writes General Schmettau, 
"where the officer — a perfectly skillfulman — had marked out 
the camp, the king would lift his spy-glass, gaze to right and 
left, riding round the place at perhaps a hundred yards distance, 
and begin, 'Look here, sir, what a botching you have made of it 
again !' 

" And then, grumbling and blaming, would alter the camp till 
it was all out of rule, and then say, 

" ' See there ; that is the way to mark out camps.' "* 

Through the efforts of Maria Theresa there was another brief 
conference, but it amounted to nothing. Neither party wished 
for war. But Austria craved the annexation of Bavaria, and 
Frederick was determined that Austria should not thus be en- 

* Schmettau, vol. xxv. , p. 30. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 557 

larged. Thus the summer passed away in unavailing diploma- 
cy and in equally unavailing military manceuvrings. While 
engaged in these adventures, Frederick received the tidings of 
the death of Voltaire, who breathed his last on the 20th of May, 
1778. The soul of Frederick was too much seared by life's stern 
conflicts to allow him to manifest, or probably to feel, any emo- 
tion on the occasion. He, however, wrote a eulogy upon the re- 
nowned litterateur, which, though written by a royal pen, attract- 
ed but little attention. 

During the winter Russia and France interposed in behalf of 
peace. The belligerents agreed to submit the question to their 
decision. Austria was permitted to take a small slice of Bava- 
ria, and for a time the horrors of war were averted. 

Soon after this an event occurred very characteristic of the 
king — an event which conspicuously displayed both his good 
and bad qualities. A miller was engaged in a lawsuit against 
a nobleman. The decree of the court, after a very careful exam- 
ination, was unanimously in favor of the nobleman ; the king, 
who had impulsively formed a different opinion of the case, was 
greatly exasperated. He summoned the four judges before him, 
denounced them in the severest terms of vituperation, would list- 
en to no defense, and dismissed them angrily from office. 

" May a miller," he exclaimed, fiercely, " who has no water, and 
consequently can not grind, have his mill taken from him ? Is 
that just ? Here is a nobleman wishing to make a fish-pond. 
To get more water for his pond, he has a ditch dug to draw into 
it a small stream which drives a water-mill. Thereby the miller 
loses his water, and. can not grind. Yet, in spite of this, it is 
pretended that the miller shall pay his rent, quite the same as 
at the time when he had full water for his mill Of course he 
can not pay his rent. His incomings are gone. 

"And what does the court of Custrin do % It orders the mill 
to be sold, that the nobleman may have his rent ! Go you, sir," 
addressing the grand chancellor, " about your business, this in- 
stant. Your successor is appointed ; with you I have nothing 
more to do." The other three were assailed in the same way, 
but still more vehemently, as the king's wrath flamed higher 
and higher. " Out of my sight," he exclaimed at last ; " I will 
make an example of you which shall be remembered." 



558 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




CONDEMNATION OF THE JUDGES. 



The next day, December 11, 1779, the king issued the follow- 
ing protocol in the newspapers : 

" The king's desire always was and is that every body, be he 
high or low, rich or poor, get prompt justice. Wherefore, in re- 
spect to this most unjust sentence against the miller Arnold, 
pronounced in the Neumark, and confirmed here in Berlin, his 
majesty will establish an emphatic example, to the end that all 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 559 

the courts of justice in the king's provinces may take warning 
thereby, and not commit the like glaring unjust acts. For let 
them bear in mind that the least peasant, yea, what is still more, 
that even a beggar, is, no less than his majesty, a human being, 
and one to whom due justice must be meted out. All men be- 
ing equal before the law, if it is a prince complaining against a 
peasant, or vice versa, the prince is the same as the peasant be- 
fore the law. 

" Let the courts take this for their rule ; and whenever they 
do not carry out justice in a straightforward manner, without 
any regard of person and rank, they shall have to answer to his 
majesty for it." 

The discarded judges were arrested, imprisoned for a year, and 
fined a sum of money equal to the supposed loss of the miller. 
In this case the judges had heard both sides of the question, and 
the king but one side. The question had been justly decided. 
The case was so clear that the new judges appointed by the king, 
being conscientious men, could not refrain from sustaining the 
verdict. Still the king, who would never admit that he was in 
the wrong, ordered no redress for those who had thus suffered 
for righteousness sake. After Frederick's death the court com- 
pelled the miller to refund the money which had been so unjust- 
ly extorted for damages. 

On the 29th of November, 1780, Maria Theresa died. The 
extraordinary character which she had developed through life 
was equally manifested in the hour of death. She died of con- 
gestion of the lungs, which created a painful and suffocating dif- 
ficulty of breathing. Her struggles for breath rendered it im- 
possible for her to lie upon the bed. Bolstered in her chair, she 
leaned her head back as if inclined to sleep. 

"Will your majesty sleep, then?" inquired an attendant. 

" No," the empress replied ; " I could sleep, but I must not. 
Death is too near. He must not steal upon me. These fifteen 
years I have been making ready for him; I will meet him 
awake." 

For fifteen years she had been a mourning widow. Her hus- 
band had died on the 18th of August. The 18th day of every 
month had since then been a day of solitary prayer. On the 
18th of every August she descended into the tomb, and sat for 



560 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



a season engaged in prayer by the side of the mouldering re- 
mains of her spouse. 




MARIA THERESA AT THE TOMB OF HER HUSBAND. 

The Emperor Joseph had been embarrassed in his ambitious 
plans by the conscientious scruples of his mother. He now en- 
tered into a secret alliance with the Czarina Catharine, by which 
he engaged to assist her in her advance to Constantinople, while 
she, in her turn, was to aid him in his encroachments and annex- 
ations to establish an empire in the West as magnificent as the 
czarina hoped to establish in the East. 

Delighted with this plan, and sanguine in the hope of its suc- 
cessful accomplishment, the czarina named her next grandson 
Constantine. Austria and Russia thus became allied, with all 
their sympathies hostile to Frederick. Old age and infirmities 
were stealing upon the king apace. Among the well-authen- 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 561 

ticated anecdotes related of him, the following is given by Car- 
lyle: 

" Loss of time was one of the losses Frederick could least stand. 
In visits, even from his brothers and sisters, which were always 
by his own express invitation, he would say some morning (call 
it Tuesday morning), ' You are going on Wednesday, I am sorry 
to hear' (what you never heard before). ' Alas ! your majesty, 
we must.' ' Well, I am sorry; but I will lay no constraint on 
you. Pleasant moments can not last forever.' This trait is in 
the anecdote-books; but its authenticity does not rest on that 
uncertain basis. Singularly enough, it comes to me individually, 
by two clear stages, from Frederick's sister, the Duchess of Bruns- 
wick, who, if any body, would know it well." 

We have often spoken of the entire neglect with which the 
king treated his virtuous and amiable queen. Preuss relates 
the following incident : 

" When the king, after the Seven Years' War, now and then 
in carnival season dined with the queen in her apartments, he 
usually said not a word to her. He merely, on entering, on sit- 
ting down at table, and leaving it, made the customary bows, 
and sat opposite to her. Once the queen was ill of gout. The 
table was in her apartments, but she was not there. She sat in 
an easy-chair in the drawing-room. On this occasion the king 
stepped up to the queen and inquired about her health. The 
circumstance occasioned among the company present, and all 
over the town, as the news spread, great wonder and sympathy. 
This is probably the last time he ever spoke to her."* 

" The king was fond of children ; he liked to have his grand- 
nephews about him. One day, while the king sat at work in 
his cabinet, the younger of the two, a boy of eight or nine, was 
playing ball about the room, and knocked it once and again into 
the king's writing operation, who twice or oftener flung it back 
to him, but next time put it in his pocket, and went on. ' Please 
your majesty, give it me back,' begged the boy, and again beg- 
ged: majesty took no notice; continued writing. Till at length 
came, in the tone of indignation, ' Will your majesty give me my 
ball, then V The king looked up ; found the little Hohenzollern 
planted firm, hands on haunches, and wearing quite a peremptory 

* Preuss, t. iv.,p. 187. 

Nn 



562 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

air. 'Thou art a brave little fellow. They won't get Silesia 
out of thee V cried he, laughing, and flinging him his ball."* 

The fault-finding character of the king, and his intense devo- 
tion to perfecting his army, both increased with his advancing 
years. After one of his reviews of the troops in Silesia, in the 
year 1784, he wrote in the following severe strain to the com- 
manding general : 

" Potsdam, September 7, 1784. 

" My dear General,— While in Silesia I mentioned to you, 
and will now repeat in writing, that my army in Silesia was at 
no time so bad as at present. Were I to make shoemakers or 
tailors into generals, the regiments could not be worse. Regi- 
ment Thadden is not fit to be the most insignificant militia bat- 
talion of a Prussian army. Of the regiment Erlach, the men are 
so spoiled by smuggling they have no resemblance to soldiers ; 
Keller is like a heap of undrilled boors ; Hager has a miserable 
commander; and your own regiment is very mediocre. Only 
with Graf Von Anhalt, with Wendessen, and Markgraf Heinrich 
■ could I be content. See you, that is the state I found the regi- 
ments in, one after one. I will now speak of their manoeuvring. 

" Schwartz, at Neisse, made the unpardonable mistake of not 
sufficiently besetting the height on the left wing ; had it been 
serious, the battle had been lost. At Breslau, Erlach, instead of 
covering the army by seizing the heights, marched off with his 
division straight as a row of cabbages into that defile ; whereby, 
had it been earnest, the enemy's cavalry would have cut down 
our infantry, and the fight was gone. 

" It is not my purpose to lose battles by the base conduct of 
my generals ; wherefore I hereby appoint that you, next' year, 
if I be alive, assemble the army between Breslau and Ohlau ; 
for four days before I arrive in your camp, carefully manoeuvre 
with the ignorant generals, and teach them what their duty is. 
Regiment Von Arnim and regiment Von Kanitz are to act the 
enemy ; and whoever does not then fulfill his duty ^shall go to 
court-martial ; for I should think it a shame of any country to 
keep such people, who trouble themselves so little about their 
business." 

* Fischer, vol. ii. , p. 445, as cited by Carlyle. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT, 563 

The king seemed to think it- effeminate and a disgrace to him 
as a soldier ever to appear in a carriage. He never drove, but 
constantly rode from Berlin to Potsdam. In the winter of 1785, 
when he was quite feeble, he wished to go from Sans Souci, 
which was exposed to bleak winds, and where they had only 
hearth fires, to more comfortable winter quarters in the new pal- 
ace. The weather was stormy. After waiting a few days for 
such a change as would enable him to go on horseback, and the 
cold and wind increasing, he was taken over in a sedan-chair in 
the night, when no one could see him. 

In August, 1785, the king again visited Silesia to review his 
troops. A private letter, quoted by Carlyle, gives an interesting 
view of his appearance at the time : m 

"He passed through Hirschberg on the 18 th of August. A 
concourse of many thousands had been waiting for him several 
hours. Outriders came at last ; then he himself, the unique ; 
and, with the liveliest expression of reverence and love, all eyes 
were directed on one point. I can not describe to you my feel- 
ings, which, of course, were those of every body, to see him, the 
aged king; in his weak hand the hat; in those grand eyes such 
a fatherly benignity of look over the vast crowd that encircled 
his carriage, and rolled tide -like, accompanying it. Looking 
round, I saw in various eyes a tear trembling. 

" His affability, his kindliness, to whoever had the honor of 
speech with this great king, who shall describe it ! After talk- 
ing a good while with the merchants' deputation from the hill 
country, he said, Ms there any thing more, then, from any body V 
Upon which the president stepped forward and said, ' The burn- 
ed-out inhabitants of Grreiffenberg have charged me to express 
once more their most submissive gratitude for the gracious help 
in rebuilding; their word of thanks is indeed of no importance; 
but they daily pray Grod to reward such royal beneficence.' The 
king was visibly affected, and said, 'You don't need to thank 
me ; when my subjects fall into misfortune, it is my duty to help 
them up again ; for that reason am I here.' " 

On Monday, the 22d of August, the great review commenced 
near Strehlen. It lasted four days. All the country mansions 
around were filled with strangers who had come to witness the 
spectacle. 



564 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 



"The sure fact, and the forever memorable, is that on Wednes- 
day, the third day of it, from four in the morning, when the ma- 
noeuvres began, till well after ten o'clock, when they ended, there 
was rain like Noah's ; rain falling as from buckets and water- 
spouts ; and that Frederick, so intent upon his business, paid not 
the slightest regard to it, but rode about, intensely inspecting, in 
lynx-eyed watchfulness of every thing, as if no rain had been 
there. Was not at the pains even to put on his cloak. Six 
hours of such down-pour; and a weakly old man of seventy-three 
past ! Of course he was wetted to the bone. On returning to 
head-quarters, his boots were found fall of water ; ' when pulled 
off, it came pouring from them like a pair of pails.' "* 




THE LAST REVIEW. 

Lafayette, Lord Cornwallis, and the Duke of York were his 

* Carl vie, vol. vi.,p. 529. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 565 

guests at the dinner-table that day. The king suffered from his 
exposure, was very feverish, and at an early hour went to bed. 
The next day he completed his review ; and the next day " went 
— round by Neisse, inspection not to be omitted there, though it 
doubles the distance — to Brieg, a drive of eighty miles, inspec- 
tion work included."* 

From this exhausting journey for so old a man the king re- 
turned to Potsdam through a series of state dinners, balls, and 
illuminations. On the night of the 18th of September he was 
awoke by a very severe fit of suffocation. It was some time be- 
fore he could get any relief, and it was thought that he was dy- 
ing. The next day gout set in severely. This was followed by 
dropsy. The king suffered severely through the winter. There 
is no royal road through the sick-chamber to the tomb. The 
weary months of pain and languor came and went. The re- 
nowned Mirabeau visited the king in his sick-chamber on the 
17th of April, 1786. He writes : 

"My dialogue with the king was very lively; but the king 
was in such suffering, and so straitened for breath, I was myself 
anxious to shorten it. That same evening I traveled on." 

That same evening Marie Antoinette wrote from Versailles to 
her sister Christine at Brussels : 

" The King of Prussia is thought to be dying. I am weary 
of the political discussions on this subject as to what effects his 
death must produce. He is better at this moment, but so weak 
he can not resist long. Physique is gone. But his force and 
energy of soul, they say, have often supported him, and in des- 
perate crises have even seemed to increase. Liking to him I 
never had. His ostentatious immorality has much hurt public 
virtue, and there have been related to me barbarities which ex- 
cite horror. 

" He has done us all a great deal of ill. He has been king for 
his own country, but a trouble-feast for those about him — setting 
up to be the arbiter of Europe, always assailing his neighbors, 
and making them pay the expense. As daughters of Maria 
Theresa, it is impossible we can regret him ; nor is it the court 
of France that will make his funeral oration."f 

The Prince of Ligne, a very accomplished courtier, about this 

* Carlyle. t Correspondance Inedite de Marie Antoinette, p. 137. 



566 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

time visited the sick and dying king. During his brief stay he 
dined daily with the king, and spent his evenings with him. In 
an interesting account which he gives of these interviews, he 
writes : 

" Daily for five hours the universality of his conversation com- 
pleted my enchantment at his powers. The arts, war, medicine, 
literature, religion, philosophy, morality, history, and legislation 
passed in review by turns. The great times of Augustus and 
Louis XIV. ; the good society among the Romans, the Greeks, 
and the French ; the chivalry of Francis I. ; the valor of Henry 
IV.; the revival of letters, and their changes since Leo X.; an- 
ecdotes of men of talent of former days, and their errors ; the ec- 
centricities of Voltaire; the sensitive vanity of Maupertuis ; the 
agreeableness of Algarotti ; the wit of Jordan ; the hypochon- 
driacism of the Marquis D' Argens, whom the king used to induce 
to keep his bed for four-and-twenty hours by merely telling him 
he looked ill — and what not besides ? All that could be said of 
the most varied and agreeable kind was what came from him, in 
a gentle tone of voice, rather low, and very agreeable from his 
manner of moving his lips, which possessed an inexpressible 
grace."* 

Dr. Moore gives the following account of a surprising scene, 
considering that the king was an infirm and suffering man sev- 
enty-three years of age : 

" A few days ago I happened to take a very early walk about 
a mile from Potsdam, and seeing some soldiers under arms in a 
field at a small distance from the road, I went toward them. An 
officer on horseback, whom I took to be the major, for he gave 
the word of command, was uncommonly active, and often rode 
among the ranks to reprimand or instruct the common men. 
When I came nearer I was much surprised to find that this was 
the king himself. 

" He had his sword drawn, and continued to exercise the corps 
for an hour after. He made them wheel, march, form the square, 
and fire by divisions and in platoons, observing all their motions 
with infinite attention ; and, on account of some blunder, put 
two officers of the Prince of Prussia's regiment in arrest. In short, 
he seemed to exert himself with all the spirit of a young officer 

* Mcmoires et Melanges Historiques et Litter aires, par le Prince de Ligny. 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 507 

eager to attract the notice of his general by uncommon alert- 
ness."* 

Frederick was very fond of dogs. This was one of his earliest 
passions, and it continued until the end of his life. He almost 
invariably had five or six Italian greyhounds about him, leajDing 
upon the chairs, and sleeping upon the sofas in his room. Dr. 
Zimmermann describes them as placed on blue satin chairs and 
couches near the king's arm-chair, and says that when Frederick, 
during his last illness, used to sit on his terrace at Sans Souci in 
order to enjoy the sun, a chair was always placed by his side, 
which was occupied by one of his dogs. He fed them himself, 
took the greatest possible care of them when they were sick, and 
when they died buried them in the gardens of Sans Souci. The 




FREDERICK AND HIS DOGS. 

* Dr. Moore, View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland, and Germany. 



568 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

traveler may still see their tombs — flat stones with the names of 
the dogs beneath engraved upon them — at each end of the ter- 
race of Sans Souci, in front of the palace. 

"The king was accustomed to pass his leisure moments in 
playing with them, and the room where he sat was strewed with 
leather balls with which they amused themselves. As they were 
all much indulged, though there was always one especial favor- 
ite, they used to tear the damask covers of the chairs in the king's 
apartment, and gnaw and otherwise injure the furniture. This 
he permitted without rebuke, and used only to say, 

" ' My dogs destroy my chairs ; but how can I help it ? And if 
I were to have them mended to-day, they would be torn again 
to-morrow.- So I suppose I must bear with the inconvenience. 
After all, a Marquise De Pompadour would cost me a great deal 
more, and would neither be as attached nor as faithful.' " 

One of Frederick's dogs, Biche, has attained almost historic 
celebrity. We can not vouch for the authenticity of the anecdote, 
but it is stated that the king took Biche with him on the cam- 
paign of 1745. One day the king, advancing on a reconnoissance, 
was surprised and pursued by a large number of Austrians. He 
- took refuge under a bridge, and, wrapping Biche in his cloak, 
held him close to his breast. The sagacious animal seemed fully 
conscious of the peril of his master. Though of a very nervous 
temperament, and generally noisy and disposed to bark at the 
slightest disturbance, he remained perfectly quiet until the Aus- 
trians had passed. 

At the battle of Sohr, Biche was taken captive with the king's 
baggage. The animal manifested so much joy upon being re- 
stored to its master that the king's eyes were flooded with tears. 

On the 4th of July the king rode out for the last time. ' Not 
long after, the horse was again brought to the door, but the king 
found himself too weak to mount. Still, while in this state of ex- 
treme debility and pain, he conducted the affairs of state with 
the most extraordinary energy and precision. The minutest 
questions received his attention, and every branch of business 
was prosecuted with as much care and perfection as in his best 
days. 

" He saw his ministers, saw all who had business with him, 
many who had little ; and in the sore coil of bodily miseries, as 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 569 

Hertzberg observed with wonder, never was the king's intellect 
clearer, or his judgment more just and decisive. Of his disease, 
except to the doctors, he spoke no word to any body. 

" The body of Frederick is a ruin, but his soul is still here, 
and receives his friends and his tasks as formerly. Asthma, 
dropsy, erysipelas, continual want of sleep; for many months 
past he has not been in bed, but sits day and night in an easy- 
chair, unable to get breath except in that posture. He said one 
morning to somebody entering, ' If you happened to want a night- 
watcher, I could suit you well.' "* 

There is something truly sublime in the devotion with which 
he, in disregard of sleeplessness, exhaustion, and pain, gave him- 
self to work. His three clerks were summoned to his room each 
morning at four o'clock. 

" My situation forces me," he said, " to give them this trouble, 
which they will not have to suffer long. My life is on the de- 
cline. The time which I still have belongs not to me, but to the 
state." 

He conversed cheerfully upon literature, history, and the com- 
mon topics of the day. But he seemed studiously to avoid any 
allusion to God, to the subject of religion, or to death. He had 
from his early days very emphatically expressed his disbelief in 
any God who took an interest in the affairs of men. Through- 
out his whole life he had abstained from any recognition of such 
a God by any known acts of prayer or worship. Still Mr. Car- 
lyle writes : 

"From of old, life has been infinitely contemptible to him. In 
death, I think, he has -neither fear nor hope. Atheism, truly, he 
never could abide : to him, as to all of us, it was flatly inconceiv- 
able that intellect, moral emotion, could have been put into Mm 
by an Entity that had none of its own. But there, pretty much, 
his Theism seems to have stopped. Instinctively; too, he believed, 
no man more firmly, that Right alone has ultimately any strength 
in this world : ultimately, yes ; but for him and his poor brief 
interests, what good was it ? Hope for himself in divine Justice, 
in divine Providence, I think he had not practically any : that 
the unfathomable Demiurgus should concern himself with such 
a set of paltry, ill-given animalcules as one's self and mankind 

* Carlyle, vol. vi., p. 535. 



570 EREDERICK THE GREAT. 

are, this also, as we have often noticed, is in the main incredible 
to him. 

" Inarticulate notions, fancies, transient aspirations, he might 
have, in the background of his mind. One day, sitting for a while 
out of doors, gazing into the sun, he was heard to murmur, ' Per- 
haps I shall be nearer thee soon ;' and, indeed, nobody knows 
what his thoughts were in these final months. There is trace- 
able only a complete superiority to fear and hope ; in parts, too, 
are half glimpses of a great motionless interior lake of sorrow, 
sadder than any tears or complainings, which are altogether 
wanting to it." 

Dr. Zimmermann, whose work on Solitude had given him some 
renown, had been sent for to administer to the illustrious pa- 
tient. His prescriptions were of no avail. On the 10th of Au- 
gust, 1786, Frederick wrote to his sister, the Duchess Dowager 
of Brunswick : 

" My adorable Sister, — The Hanover doctor has wished to 
make himself important with you, my good sister ; but the truth 
is, he has been of no use to me. The old must give place to the 
young, that each generation may find room clear for it ; and life, 
if we examine strictly what its course is, consists in seeing one's 
fellow-creatures die and be born. In the mean while, I have felt 
myself a little easier for the last day or two. My heart remains 
inviolably attached to you, my good sister. With the highest 
consideration, my adorable sister, your faithful brother and serv- 
ant, Frederick." 

The last letter which it is supposed that he wrote was the fol- 
lowing cold epistle to his excellent wife, whom, through' a long 
life, he had treated with such cruel neglect : , 

" Madam, — I am much obliged by the wishes you deign to 
form ; but a heavy fever I have taken hinders' me from answer- 
ing you." 

Scarcely any thing can be more sad than the record of the last 
days and hours of this extraordinary man. Few of the children 
of Adam have passed a more joyless life. Few have gone down 
to a grave shrouded with deeper gloom. None of those Chris- 
tian hopes which so often alleviate pain, and take from death its 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 571 

sting, cheered his dying chamber. To him the grave was but 
the portal to the abyss of annihilation. 

Days of pain and nights of sleeplessness were his portion. A 
hard cough racked his frame. His strength failed him. Ulcer- 
ous sores broke out upon various parts of his body. A constant 
oppression at his chest rendered it impossible for him to lie 
down. Gout tortured him. His passage to the grave led 
through eighteen months of constant suffering. Dr. Ziromer- 
mann, in his diary of the 2d of August, writes : 

" The king is very chilly, and is always enveloped in pelisses, 
and covered with feather-beds. He has not been in bed for six 
weeks, but sleeps in his chair for a considerable time together, 
and always turned to the right side. The dropsical swelling 
augments. He sees it, but will not perceive what it is, or at 
least will not appear to do so, but talks as if it were a swelling 
accompanying convalescence, and proceeding from previous weak- 
ness. He is determined not to die if violent remedies can save 
him, but to submit to punctures and incisions to draw off the 
water." 

Again, on the 8th, Dr. Zimmermann wrote: "The king is ex- 
traordinarily ill. On the 4th erysipelas appeared on the leg. 
This announces bursting and mortification. He has much op- 
pression, and the smell of the wound is very bad." 

On the loth, after a restless night, he did not wake until eleven 
o'clock in the morning. For a short time he seemed confused. 
He then summoned his generals and secretaries, and gave his or- 
ders with all his wonted precision. He then called in his three 
clerks and dictated to them upon various subjects. His directions 
to an embassador, who was about leaving, filled four quarto pages. 

As night came on he fell into what may be called the death- 
sleep. His breathing was painful and stertorous ; his mind was 
wandering in delirious dreams; his voice became inarticulate. 
At a moment of returning consciousness he tried several times 
in vain to give some utterance to his thoughts. Then, with a 
despairing expression of countenance, he sank back upon his pil- 
low. Fever flushed his cheeks, and his eyes assumed some of 
their wonted fire. Thus the dying hours were prolonged, as the 
friendless monarch, surrounded by respectful attendants, slowly 
descended to the grave. 



572 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

His feet and legs became cold. Death was stealing its way 
toward the vitals. About nine o'clock Wednesday evening a 
painful cough commenced, with difficulty of breathing, and an 
ominous rattle in the throat. One of his dogs sat by his bed- 
side, and shivered with cold ; the king made a sign for them to 
throw a quilt over it. 

Another severe fit of coughing ensued, and the king, having 
with difficulty got rid of the phlegm, said, " The mountain is 
passed ; we shall be better now." These were his last words. 
The expiring monarch sat in his chair, but in a state of such ex- 
treme weakness that he was continually sinking down, with his 
chest and neck so bent forward that breathing was almost im- 
possible. One of his faithful valets took the king upon his knee 
and placed his left arm around his waist, while the king threw 
his right arm around the valet's neck. 

It was midnight. " Within doors all is silence ; around it the 
dark earth is silent, above it the silent stars." Thus for two 
hours the attendant sat motionless, holding the dying king. 
Not a word was spoken ; no sound could be heard but the pain- 
ful breathing which precedes death. 

At just twenty minutes past two o'clock the breathing ceased, 
the spirit took its flight, and the lifeless body alone remained. 
Life's great battle was ended, and the soul of the monarch as- 
cended to that dread tribunal where prince and peasant must 
alike answer for all the deeds done in the body. It was the 
17th of August, 1786. The king had reigned forty-six years, 
and had lived seventy -six years, six months, and twenty -four 
days. 

One clause in the king's will was judiciously disregarded, 
As a last mark of his contempt for his own species, Frederick 
had directed that he should be buried at Sans Souci by the side 
of his clogs. 

In the king's will, the only reference to any future which might 
be before him was the following: 

" After having restored peace to my kingdom ; after having 
conquered countries, raised a victorious army, and filled my treas- 
ury ; after having established a good administration throughout 
my dominions ; after having made my enemies tremble, I resign, 
without regret, this breath of life to Nature." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 573 

He left a small sum for the support of his amiable, blameless, 
and neglected queen, saying, " She never gave me the least un- 
easiness during my whole reign, and she merits every attention 
and respect for her many and unshaken virtues." 

" All next day the body lay in state in the palace ; thousands 
crowding, from Berlin and the other environs, to see that face for 
the last time. Wasted, worn, but beautiful in death, with the 
thin gray hair parted into locks, and slightly powdered."* 

At eight o'clock in the evening his body was borne, accompa- 
nied by a battalion of the Guards, to Potsdam ; eight horses 
drew the hearse. An immense concourse, in silence and sadness, 
filled the streets. He was buried in a small chaj)el in the church 
of the garrison at Potsdam. There the remains of Frederick 
and his father repose side by side. 

" Life's labor done, securely laid 
In this, their last retreat : 
Unheeded o'er their silent dust 
The storms of life shall beat." 

* Rodenbeck, vol. iii., p. 3G5. 



INDEX. 



A. 

Abdication of Frederick William contempla- 
ted, page 50. 

Absolutism of Frederick William (note), 43. 

Academy of Sciences established in Berlin, 191 ; 
Frederick's interest in the, 390. 

Adelbert, Bishop of Prag, his missionary spirit, 
18. 

Adolph Frederick of Sweden marries Freder- 
ick's sister Ulrique, 323. 

Alarm of the monarchies of Europe at the suc- 
cesses of Frederick the Great, 267 ; of the 
British Cabinet, 286. 

Alembert, D', a French Philosopher and friend 
of Frederick, 510. 

Algarotti, Count, Italian, at Eeinsberg, 171 ; 
Note, 233 ; describes a Review of the Guards, 
379. 

Alliance of European Powers against Frederick 
threatened, 238. 

Amelia, Princess, of England, her constancy to 
Frederick, 150. 

Anecdote of Frederick William, 20 ; of the Ber- 
lin Student, 27; of Frederick William, 38 ; of 
M. Von Bentenreider, 44 ; of Scenes in the 
Tobacco Parliament, 48 ; of Frederica Louisa, 
56 ; of Frederick William and his Courtier, 
58 ; of Frederick William in the Music- 
room, 67 ; of Wilhelmina and Fritz, 78 ; of 
a Raven, 115; of Frederick William, 161 ; of 
the French Minister (note), 192; of Freder- 
ick the Great and Voltaire (note), 199 ; of 
Count Dufour, 200 ; of Frederick the Great, 
272, 300 ; of the Old Dessauer, 346 ; of Fred- 
erick and the Protestant Peasants, 353 ; of the 
Hungarian Count, 378 ; of Colonel Chasot 
and an Austrian Officer, 380 ; of Freder- 
ick, 399 ; of the Prussian Dragoon, 416 ; of 
Frederick and the Austrians, 443 ; of Fred- 
erick before the Battle of Zorndorf, 460 ; of 
Frederick, 517, 518, 525, 536 ; of Elizabeth 
of Brunswick, wife of the Crown Prince, 537; 
of Frederick, 556, 557, 561 ; of one of Fred- 
erick's Dogs, 568. 

Animosity between Frederick William and 
George II. of England (note), 55. 

Announcement of Prussian Victory at Moll wit z 
— Frederick's Chagrin, 259. 



Anspach, Marquis of, marries a sister of Fred- 
erick, 66. 

Anti-Machiavel, Frederick's protestations in, 
217. 

Archenholtz : he writes of Frederick after Ko- 
lin, 417; of Frederick's treatment of his 
Captives, 499. 

Argens, Marquis D', his character, 396. 

Attack upon Frederick's Supply- train from 
Troppau described, 453. 

Augustus William, brother of Frederick, be- 
trothed, 210; his Grief and Death, 451. 

Augustus III., King of Poland, Frederick's 
counsels to him, 298 ; his Exasperation 
against Frederick, 305. 

Aulic Council held at Presburg, 284. 

Austria favors Catholicism, 224. 

Austrian Envoy, the, his suspicions of Freder- 
ick, 219. 

Austrian Retreat after Leuthen, 442 ; after 
Torgau, 514. 

Austrians, Cruelty of the, 364 ; defeated by 
Prince Henry, 533. 

B. 

Baireuth, Frederick, Duke of, 76 ; he visits 
Berlin, 120; received with favor by Wilhel- 
mina, 121 ; Character of the old Marquis of, 
147; Frederick the Great visits Wilhelmina 
in her home at, 161. 

Barberina, Senora, her Adventures, 318, 319. 

Bathyani, General, and his Pandours, 332. 

Baumgarten, Conflict at, 241 ; Neipperg at, 283. 

Belgard, Frederick William reviews a Regiment 
at, 179. 

Belleisle, Lord, commands French troops, 284; 
his Interview with Frederick, 315. 

Berlin, Palace of, its Splendor, 37 ; Frederick 
William arrives at, 97; Grand Review at, 
119; Description of the Palace of, 129; Wil- 
helmina writes of, 134; Grand Entree of 
Frederick with his Bride, 151 ; the Princess 
Royal resides at, 154 ; Frederick William re- 
turns from Lithuania to, 180 ; he bids a final 
farewell to, 180; Wilhelmina visits, 210; 
Frederick the Great returns from Silesia to, 
236 ; Frederick again returns to, 29 7 ; the 
Gayety of, 322 ; Alarm in, 348 ; Carousal at, 



576 



INDEX. 



385 ; an Austrian Division on the march to 
attack, 428 ; Terror at, 488 ; besieged by the 
Allies, 508 ; the Garrison retires, and the City 
surrenders, 509 ; Illuminations in, after the 
Treaty of Peace, 535 ; Congress at, 555. 

Berneck, Wilhelmina writes Frederick of, 156. 

Bernstadt, Frederick surprises and scatters an 
Austrian Division at, 424. 

Besserer, M., Chaplain of the Garrison at Cus- 
trin, 107. 

Bevern, Prince, holds Breslau, 434. 

Bielfeld, Baron, describes the Princess Eliza- 
beth Christina, 144 ; his Account of a Ca- 
rousal at Eeinsberg, 1 69 ; an Accident to, 
171 ; his Account of the Crown Prince, 171, 
172; of Frederick William (wofe), 181 ; he re- 
lates a Dialogue (note), 187 ; his Conversation 
with Frederick after the Death of his Father, 
189 ; he writes (note), 212 ; of Frederick, 
268 ; he describes Frederick's Manner at the 
Marriage of his Brother, 297; he relates 
Frederick's Passage through Frankfort, 314 ; 
he describes the Leave-taking of Ulrique, 
and the Berlin Court, 324. 

Bohemia, Prussian Forces enter, 330. 

Borck, Baron von, counsels Frederick William, 
61 ; his proposal to Sophie Dorothee, 76; he 
commands at Maaseyk, 208 ; he is charged 
with proposals to General Roth, the Austrian 
Commander, 234. 

Borne, short but bloody Conflict at, 438. 

Botta, Marquis of, the Austrian Envoy, 220. 

Brandenburg, the Duchy of, 1 8 ; its Capital, 1 9. 

Breslau, Capital of Silesia, 228 ; Terms of Sur- 
render offered, 229 ; terms of its surrender to 
Frederick, 281 ; Frederick crowned Sovei*- 
eign Duke of Silesia at, 294 ; afterward re- 
taken by Austria, 435 ; Frederick concen- 
trates troops at, 507 ; he establishes Winter 
Quarters at, 527. 

Brieg, Siege of, raised, 250; Frederick en- 
camped around, 265. 

Britz, immense Concourse at, to meet Freder- 
ick on his return to Berlin, 373. 

Broglio, Marshal, commandant in Strasbourg, 
200. 

Browne, General, an Austrian commander in 
Silesia, 223 ; his skillful Manoeuvre to relieve 
the Saxons, 408. 

Briihl, Count, Prime Minister of Augustus III., 
299 ; his Character (note), 299. 

Briinn, Frederick besieges, 304. 

Brunswick, secret Conclave, and Initiation of 
the Crown Prince into the Order of Freema- 
sons at, 1 76. 

Buddenbrock, General, his mean office, 91. 

Budischau, Castle of, used as Saxon Barracks, 
302. 

Budweis, Frederick takes possession of, 333. 

Bunzelwitz, Camp of, celebrated in history, 523. 



C. 

Captain of Giant Guards, 43. 

Caroline, Queen of England, Sophie Dorothee 
writes to, 74. 

Carlyle, Quotations from and Opinions of (note), 
20, 21 ; his Opinion of Frederick William, 
24 ; his Description of the Tabagie, 46 ; of 
Frederick William, 48 ; he describes the Com- 
panions of the Crown Prince (note), 71 ; Com- 
ments on Wilhelmina (note), 73 ; Extract 
from, 97 ; on Predestination, 110 ; translates 
a Letter of Frederick to his Father, 113 ; he 
writes of Voltaire, 173 ; of Frederick, 217 ; 
he describes a March in December, 225 ; on 
France, 239 ; he desciibes M. Maupertuis, 
264 ; Maria Theresa, 273 ; his graphic Ac- 
count of Frederick and the English Ministers, 
280 ; his View of the Offer of Frederick to 
Austria, 287 ; of Frederick's political Moral- 
ity, 293 ; his Description of the Pandours, 
333; he writes of Frederick, 339 ; of Leopold, 
343 ; of the French Victory at Fontenoy, 358 ; 
describes the Storming of Sterbohol and Ho- 
moly Hills, 413 ; on Frederick's poetic Effu- 
sion, 433 ; on the Battle of Zorndorf, 459 ; on 
the Armies at Freiburg, 495 ; on Frederick's 
Manceuvrings (note), 507 ; on the Camp at 
Bunzelwitz, 523 ; on the Czarina, 541 ; on 
Bavaria, 551 ; onFrederick's diplomatic Skill, 
552 ; his Rendering of Frederick's religious 
Creed, 569. 

Catharine II. conspires against Peter III., and 
dethrones him, 530 ; her Proclamation after 
the Death of Peter III., 531 ; Frederick the 
Great enters into an alliance with her, 541 ; 
goes to War with Turkey, 544 ; her Death, 55 1 . 

Catt, Henry de, his Narrative, 399, 400, 401 , he 
visits Frederick at Breslau, 447. 

Charles, Duke of Brunswick, 151. 

Charles VI. of Germany, his Alliance with Fred- 
erick William, 45 ; he intercedes for the 
Crown Prince, 111 ; his Death, 212 ; the dy- 
ing Scene, 213. 

Charles Albert, Emperor of Germany, 301 ; his 
Death, 344. 

Charles, Prince, of Austria advances against 
Frederick, 307; his Aim, 309; bereaved and 
crushed, 342. 

Charlotte, Sister of Frederick the Great, slan- 
ders his Bride, 148 ; her Marriage, 152. 

Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg, the Bride of 
George III. of England, 521. 

Chasot, Lieutenant, fights a Duel, 1 68. 

Chatelet, Madame Du, her Character, 173 ; her 
Death, 379. 

Children of Frederick William, 50. 

Chotusitz, Battle of, 310; Cavalry Charge at, 
led by General Bredow, 311. 

Chrudim, Frederick's Head-quarters at, 307; 
he concentrates his Army at, 308. 



INDEX. 



577 



Cirey, Chateau of, the Residence of Voltaire, 
173. 

Cleves, Voltaire visits Frederick at, 203. 

Coalition against Frederick, 402. 

Cochius, M., a clerical Adviser of Frederick 
William, 187. 

Combination against Frederick, 411. 

Cossacks hover around the Prussian Army, 456 ; 
their Mercilessness, 459. 

Court-martial convened, 105. 

Court Intrigues, 148. 

Crown Prince of Prussia, 20. 

Crown Prince Cadets, 30. 

Custrin, Frederick, the Crown Prince of Prus- 
sia, a Prisoner at, 101 ; his Privations, 114 ; 
his Life at, 122 ; he returns after the Mar- 
riage of his Sister, 135 ; Conflagration of, 461, 

462 ; in a midnight March Frederick crosses 
the Oder near, 481. 

Czaslau, Prince Charles, rendezvouses at, 310. 

Czernichef, General, communicates to Freder- 
ick the News of the Death of Peter III. ; its 
Effect, 532. 

D. 

Dance of Torches, 131. 

Daun, General, an Austrian Officer, re-enforces 
Olmutz, 452; he dares not attack Frederick, 
454; his Endeavors to reconquer Saxony, 

463 ; his Plans successful, 466 ; he over- 
whelms the Forces of General Finck, 493 ; is 
astride the Elbe at Dresden, 501 ; severely 
wounded at Torgau, 513. 

Delay of the Courier sent to England respecting 
the double Marriages ; the Consequences, 75. 

Despotic Conduct of Frederick William, 43, 68. 

Dessauer, the Old, alienated from Frederick, 
340 ; his military Skill and Character, 345 ; 
Frederick directs him to watch the Saxons, 
347 ; he enters Saxony, 367 ; his brave Re- 
solve, 368 ; his Prayer before commencing 
Battle, 369. 

Dialogue of Sophie Dorothee with Grumkow, 
74 ; of Frederick with Count Von Kaunitz, 
545. 

Dickens, Sir Guy, an English Embassador, 86 ; 
he conveys letters to the Crown Prince from 
George II. of England, 87 ; his Testimony 
respecting Frederick William, 112 ; he is baf- 
fled in his attempts to discover the Plans of 
Frederick, 220. 

Discipline in the Prussian Army, 378. 

Doberschiitz, Frederick at, after the Victory of 
Hochkirch, 469. 

Double Marriages, the, relinquished, 61. 

Dover, Lord, on the Marriage of Frederica Lou- 
isa (note), 66 ; Extract from the Writings of, 
104, (note) 105. 

Dresden, Frederick William contemplates a Vis- 
it to, 78 ; Frederick the Great visits, 298 ; 
Treaty of Peace signed at, 372 ; Frederick 

o 



enters, 405 ; his Winter Quarters at, 409 ; 
the Prussian Commander fires the Suburbs 
of, 471 ; surrendered by General Schmettau, 
491 ; cruelly bombarded by Frederick, 502. 

Dubourgay, British Embassador at Berlin, 79. 

Duhan, M., Frederick's Visit to, 373. 

Duke of Gloucester, the, sends Envoy to Ber- 
lin, 40. 

Duplicity of Frederick, 291. 

E. 

Eastern Question, the, its Antiquity, 545. 

Economy of Frederick William, 45. 

Einsiedel, General,holds the Garrison at Prague, 
331 ; his heroic but awful Retreat from Prague, 
338. 

Elizabeth Christina, Princess of Bevern, 141 ; 
betrothed to Frederick, 142 ; her Marriage, 
149; her cruel Treatment at Berlin, 151 ; 
Carlyle's Testimony to her Character,' 165 ; 
Frederick's Treatment of her, 197 ; his cut- 
ting Neglect of her, 252 ; her Reputation, 
and Frederick's Opinion of her, 389; his 
Testimony, 573. 

Elizabeth of Russia, her Character and Death, 
528. 

Ellert, M., Physician to Frederick William 
(?iote), 187. 

Emperor of Germany, the, protests against the 
double Marriages, 48. 

England replenishes the Coffers of Maria The- 
resa, 238 ; Checkmated by the Skill of Belle- 
isle, 284; the growing Power of France 
alarms her, 312 ; endeavors to break the Al- 
liance between France and Prussia, 359; 
makes a Treaty with Frederick, 448; her 
Treaty with France, 532. 

English, the, their Unpopularity at Berlin, 82. 

Erfurt, the Prince of Soubise intrenched at, 424. 

Eugene, Prince, a renowned Prussian Officer, 
160 ; he re-enforces the Garrison at Berlin, 
509. 

Europe, a general Upturning of the States of, 
239; she censures Frederick for his cruel 
Treatment of Prisoners of War, 409. 



Fassmann, his outrageous Conduct in the Taba- 
gie, 47. 

Finck, Count, Frederick's secret Instructions to, 
410 ; his cruel Treatment of, 494. 

Fouque, Captain, with the Crown Prince at Cus- 
trin (note), 102. 

Fouquet, General, overwhelmed and captured, 
501. 

France and Germany unite against Austria, 284. 

Francis of Lorraine elected Emperor of Germa- 
ny, 360. 

Frankenstein, General Neipperg retreats to, 
283 ; Frederick's head- quarters at, 349. 

O 



578 



INDEX. 



Frankfort on the Oder, Frederick's Entrance 
into, 314 ; exorbitant Demands of the Rus- 
sians upon the People of, 480. 

Frederica Louisa, Description of, 55. 

Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, 18 ; crown- 
ed Frederick I., 20 ; his Sorrows and Death, 
23. 

Frederick William, 20; his Marriage, 21 ; his 
Economy and Reforms, 24, 25 ; his Idea of 
War, 26 ; his ill Manners, 27 ; his Plans for 
his Son, 28 ; his Notions of Education, 32, 34 ; 
Directions for Fritz, 35, 36 ; his Efforts for the 
Giant Guard, 43 ; exasperates neighboring 
magnates, 45 ; his lack of intellectual Cult- 
ure, 47 ; his Illness, 55 ; an Artist, 58 ; his 
Inhumanity, 59 ; his Anger with George II. 
of England, 60 ; his strange Conscientious- 
ness, 63 ; effects of his Rage, 68 ; his demo- 
niac Conduct, 69, 70 ; brutally threatens his 
Queen, 73 ; ends the Plan for the double Mar- 
riages, 75 ; sullenly consents to Wilhelmina's 
Marriage with the Duke of Baireuth, 77; his 
Suspicions of his Son, 78 ; his Opinion of the 
Princess Amelia, 82 ; Ultimatum concerning 
the double Marriages, 84 ; he publicly canes 
his Son, 85 ; he ill-treats Wilhelmina, 88 ; he 
assaults his Son in the Yacht, 91 ; he arraigns 
and tries Fritz, 93 ; his cruel Dispatch to his 
Queen, 95 ; his Rage with the friends of Fritz, 
103 ; his Inconsistency, 109 ; he excites the 
indignation of all European Powers against 
him, 111 ; his inflexibility, 114; his insulting 
Reply to Wilhelmina, 115; renewed ill treat- 
ment of his Daughter, 122 ; he interviews 
his Son, 123 ; his bitter Altercation with the 
Judges, 127; his Store of Silver, 130; he 
writes his Son, 137 ; he allows Fritz a mea- 
gre Income, 146 ; his reception of Wilhelmi- 
na, 147; his displeasure with his Son, 154; 
his Health impaired, 161 ; his Sufferings and 
Petulance, 1 64 ; he dislikes his Son's Occupa- 
tions, 167; he visits Holland, 175; he passes 
through Prussian Lithuania, 177; his efforts 
for the Province, 178; he bestows a Gift 
upon the Crown Prince, 179 ; his Health fails, 
180; his Anger with the Tobacco Parliament, 
1 83 ; his Directions for his Funeral, 185, 186 ; 
his last Hours, 187 ; his dying Words, 188 ; his 
Funeral, 189; his Restrictions upon his Son, 
197; his authority over Herstal denied, 206. 
Frederick the Great : his Tutors, 31 ; his liter- 
ary Acquirements, 37 ; his refined Tastes, 38 ; 
his Character at fifteen, 49 ; his Illness, 52 ; 
writes his Father, 53; contemplates fleeing 
from Home, 61 ; his Passion for Music, 66 ; 
his Falsehood and Debts, 77 ; his Resolve, 78 ; 
his Interview with his Sister, 79 ; he is held 
under Surveillance, 87; he attempts escape, 
and is arrested. 89 ; he is tried and condemn- 
ed, 93 ; he refuses to implicate his friends, 



94 ; he is deprived of necessaries, 101 ; his 
crushing Sorrow, 107; he abandons Chris- 
tianity, 110; his Oath of Obedience, 113; his 
popularity at Custrin, 122 ; his Interview with 
Frederick William, 123, 124; he is allowed 
more Freedom, 127; his lax ideas of Mar- 
riage, 128; his coldness toward Wilhelmina, 
134; he is restored to his Command atRup- 
pin, 1 36 ; his Betrothal, 142 ; his Occupation 
at Ruppin, 145; his choice of Reading, 1 46 ; 
his Marriage, 149 ; his treatment of his Bride, 
150, 151 ; he goes to Holland with Frederick 
William, 175; his Masonic Initiation, 176; 
he extols his Father's ability, 1 78 ; his sym- 
pathy for his Father in his illness, 181; he 
enters the Tobacco Parliament, 182 ; at 
Reinsberg Frederick hears of his Father's 
sudden Illness, 185; he is King of Prussia, 
188; his noble Words, 189; his generous 
Deeds, 191; his toleration, 192; his caustic 
Replies, 193; his division of Time, 194; his 
dutiful Conduct toward his Mother, 197; he 
visits Strasbourg incognito, 199; his Opinion 
of Voltaire, 205; he writes the Prince-bishop 
of Liege, 207; he issues a Manifesto, 208; he 
slights George II. of England, 210; his un- 
popularity, 211; his striking Words, 214; he 
gives Reasons for War, 216; his deceptive 
Measures, 218; his insolent Demand upon 
Maria Theresa, 221 ; his Speech to his sol- 
diers, 222 ; his Proclamation, 223 ; his poli- 
tic Conduct, 224, 230; he writes M.Jordan, 
226, 228, 232; his Entrance into Breslau, 
229 ; he writes M. Algarotti, 233 ; he fails to 
secure Allies, 237; his narrow Escape, 240; he 
writes Leopold, 244 ; he writes the Old Des- 
sauer, 246; he mistakes General Neipperg's 
Plans, 248 ; his Dilemma, 249 ; he endeavors 
to cross the Neisse, 250 ; his want of milita- 
ry Skill, 255 ; he flees for Life, 257; his Mor- 
tification, 259, 261 ; he writes Wilhelmina, 
262 ; his successful Strategy, 265 ; his grow- 
ing Importance, 268 ; he signs a secret Trea- 
ty with France, 270; his Physique, 275; his 
Dialogue with Robinson and Hyndford, 279; 
his trifling Manner, 280 ; his brusque Reply 
to the Embassador, 285 ; repulses the Aus- 
trian Envoy, 286; his mean Proposition pre- 
sented by Goltz, 287; his Caution, 290; his 
Perfidy, 291 ; his sham Siege of Neisse, 293 ; 
he denies the secret Treaty with Austria, 295 ; 
his mean Subterfuges, 297; he is annoyed by 
the want of Zeal in his Allies, 302 ; he re- 
joices in the withdrawal of Saxony from the 
Alliance, 305; diis Views of Winter Cam- 
paigns, 307; his attention to Minutiae in his 
Camp, 309; his Treachery to France, 313; 
on his Silesian Campaigns, 315 ; his Endeav- 
ors to render Berlin attractive, 318; he writes 
an Ode to Ulrique, his Sifter, 324; he writes 



INDEX. 



579 



cruelly to Baron Pollnitz, 325 ; he fears Aus- 
trian Successes, 329; his sad March from 
Prague, 331,332; his Perplexities, 335 ; his 
narrow escape from Capture at Collin, 338 ; 
his Orders to Leopold, 341; his Peril, 347; 
his Kesolve, 348 ; his Endeavor, 355 ; his In- 
dignation against Louis XV., 359 ; in his re- 
treat to Silesia, surprised by Austria, 362 ; 
his Perplexities, 366 ; his Suavity toward the 
People of Berlin, 373; his Industry, 377 ; his 
Kindness to the old Schoolmaster, Linsen- 
barth, 383 ; writes of Voltaire to Wilhelmina, 
388 ; excludes Ladies from his Court, 390 ; 
Resume of his Character, 396 ; his mean Con- 
duct at Dresden, 398 ; his terrible Perplexity, 
403 ; his treatment of Saxon troops, 409 ; he 
writes concerning the Battle of Prague, 414; 
he retreats from Kolin, 415 ; his Grief at the 
Death of his Mother, 41 8 ; his Anger with, 
and cruel Treatment of Augustus William, 
422; his infidel Creed, 425; his Support in 
Sorrow, 428 ; defeats the Allies at Rossbach, 
430; his Address to Officers and Soldiers 
after Leuthen, 435, 436 ; he writes to the 
Marquis DArgens, 446,447; his grim Hu- 
mor, 463; his Daring, 465; his Losses, 467; 
*he derides General Daun, 469 ; his Winter at 
Breslau, 473; his Expedient for the increase 
of Funds, 475; he joins his Brother Henry 
at Sagan, 479 ; defeated at Muhlberg Hill, 
483; his Injustice to his Soldiers, 489; his 
Illness, 492 ; his reckless Directions to his 
Generals, 493 ; his strategic Deception, 505 ; 
he dictates to his Generals the Plan of Oper- 
ations at Torgau, 513; assails the Austrians, 
513; his unwearying Energy, 518; his cruel 
Extortions, 521 ; his Military Instructions, 
533 ; he returns to Berlin, 535 ; his Account 
of the Ravages of the Seven Years' War, 539 ; 
vain of his Wit, 543 ; endeavors to mediate 
between Russia and Turkey, 545; his Share 
of Poland, 548 ; his Opinion on the Partition 
of Poland, 549; his Diplomacy, 552 ; his res- 
olute Movement, 554, 555 ; his Character in 
old age, 556 ; his Protocol regarding the Mill- 
er, 559 ; his Neglect of his Wife, 561 ; his Ill- 
ness, 565 ; his last Sickness and Death, 569, 
571,572; his Burial, 573. * 

Frederick, Prince of Wales, Son of George II. 
of England : his Schemes for the Hand of 
Wilhelmina, 52 ; an ardent Lover, 82. 

French, the, compel the Duke of Brunswick to 
withdraw his Alliance from Frederick, 424 ; 
their Atrocities near Weissenfels, 433. 

Freudenthal, General Neipperg at, 249; Fred- 
erick obtains Possession of, 283. 

Freytag, M., arrests Voltaire at Frankfort, 394 ; 
his Opinion of Frederick's Share of Poland, 
549 ; his Testimony to Frederick's Energy in 
time of Peace, 550. 



Friedenthal occupied by Frederick, 298. 
Friedland, Frederick retreats to, 250; he ob- 
tains Possession of, 283. 



George I. , Elector of Hanover, 20 ; he visits 
Berlin, 32 ; his Character, 39 ; his Treatment 
of his Wife, 41 ; the Death of his unhappy 
Wife, 48 ; his own sudden Death, 49. 

George II., his Character, 41 ; on the British 
Throne, 52 ; he quarrels with Frederick Wil- 
liam, 59 ; Weakness of his Army, 65 ; his 
Reasons for objecting to the "double Mar- 
riages," 83; his Reply containing the Ulti- 
matum, 84 ; he accedes too late to the Over- 
tures of Frederick William, 122; he assists 
Maria Theresa, 316 ; his sudden Death, 516. 

George III., his Character wh'en Prince of 
Wales, 83 ; his Marriage, 521. 

George the Pious, Duke of Brieg, 231. 

Giant Guards, Cost of, 61 ; one of them robs a 
House, 126; Frederick abolishes the Regi- 
ment after he becomes King of Prussia, 192. 

Ginckel, General, Dutch Embassador to Prus- 
sia ; his Account of an Interview with Fred- 
erick William (note), 109 ; demands, in the 
Name of the Dutch Court, the Evacuation of 
Silesia, 270. 

Glatz seized by Frederick, 299 ; Austrians drive 
out the Old Dessauer, and retake, 340 ; Fred- 
erick, to deceive General Daun, rushes to- 
wards, 501. 

Glogau, a fortified town in Silesia, 223 ; Fred- 
erick invests it, 228 ; assaulted and captured 
by Leopold, 245. 

Goltz, Colonel, carries a Proposition to Lord 
Hyndford from Frederick, 286 ; his import- 
ant Appointment and sudden Death, 522. 

Gortz, M. , employed on Bavarian Business, 552. 

Gotten, a Hanoverian Town, 243 ; the Old Des- 
sauer, with thirty-six Thousand Men, station- 
ed there, 258 ; the Troops there menace En- 
gland, 284. 

Grottkau, Frederick advances towards, to join 
the Prince of Holstein Beck, 250 ; finds Aus- 
trians in Possession, 251 ; after Mollwitz Aus- 
trians again retreat to, 262. 

Grumkow, Baron, Bearer of a Letter to Sophie 
Dorothee, 75 ; his Insolence to the Crown 
Prince, 101 ; his Conference with Wilhelmi- 
na, 117; he describes an Interview of Fred- 
erick William with the Crown Prince, 125. 

Gundling, a boon Companion of Frederick Wil- 
liam, 47. 

H. 

Hadpick, General, his peculiar Ransom from 
Berlin, 429. 

HartorF, M., Prussian Minister to the Hanove- 
rian Court, G'5. 



580 



INDEX. 



Helvetius invited to visit Berlin, 540. 

Henry, Prince, commands at Saxony, 449 ; 
joins Frederick at Doberschiitz, 469. 

Hennersdorf, Frederick attacks the Austrians 
at, 366. 

Herstal Castle transferred to Frederick William, 
206 ; Bishop of Liege purchases of Frederick 
the Great, 209. 

Hilbersdorf, Frederick at the Mill of, 259. 

Historical Record of the State of Prussia before 
the Birth of Christ, 17. 

Hoffman, Professor, his dignified Reply to 
Frederick William, 181. 

Hohenfriedburg, Austrian Officers at, 349 ; Bat- 
tle at, 351. 

Hope renewed regarding the double Marriages, 
75. 

Hotham, Colonel, English Envoy to Prussia, 80; 
describes a Dinner with Frederick William, 
80 ; his Endeavors to promote the Marriage 
of the Prince of Wales and Wilhelmina, 82. 

Hunting Expeditions of Frederick William, 55. 

Hyndford, Lord, an English Embassador to 
Frederick ; his Conference with him, 268, 269, 
273 ; his Conference with Frederick at Ber- 
lin, 295. 

I. 

Iglatj, Frederick intends marching to, 301 ; 
his Chagrin on reaching it, 304. 

Incident at Kehl, 199 ; at Lissa, 443 ; at Fred- 
erick's Death-bed, the faithful Valet, 572. 

Intrigues of Voltaire, 327. 

Iron Crown — why so called ? (note), 274. 

J. 

Jagerndorf, Frederick's Peril at, 248. 

Jordan, M. , a Companion of Frederick at Reins- 
berg, 167 ; he writes of Frederick, 168, (note) 
232 ; he writes Frederick, 263. 

Joseph II., Interview of Frederick with, 542; 
he allies himself with Russia, 560. 

K. 

Kalkstein, Colonel, Tutor for Frederick, 31. 

Kannegiesser, M. , Embassador of George II. at 
Hanover, 63. 

Katte, Lieutenant, his kindly Offices, 67 ; he is 
in an unpleasant Dilemma, 69 ; is a danger- 
ous Friend for the Crown Prince, 71 ; he 
sends Frederick's Desk and Papers to the 
Queen, 96 ; is arrested and abused by the 
King, 99 ; imprisoned, 100 ; sentenced to die, 
105 ; his Letter, 106 ; his Execution, 107. 

Kaunitz, Count Von, his Conceit, 544 ; he sup- 
plicates Frederick, 555. 

Keith, Lieutenant, stationed at Wesel, 71 ; he 
escapes to the Hague, 92 ; Frederick's Treat- 
ment of him, 193, 194. 

Keith, Marshal, killed at the Battle of Hocli 
kirch, 467. 



Kesselsdorf, battle of, described by Carlyle, 369. 

Keyserling, Major, an early Friend of Freder- 
ick, 167 ; his Character (note), 233. 

Knobelsdorf, Captain, a distinguished Musician 
and Architect, 168. 

Kolin, Frederick attacks the Austrians at, 415. 

Konig, M., quarrels with Maupertuis, and is ex- 
pelled from the Academy, 390. 

Konigsberg, the Capital of the Prussian Duchy, 
19. 

Konigsgraft, Prince Charles intrenches at, 354. 

Konigsgratz, Prince Charles retreats to, 446. 

Konigsmark, Count, mysterious Disappearance 
of, 41. 

Kreutzen, Colonel, sent to Liege, 210.' 

L. 

Landskron, General Stille gives Account of 
the Expedition against, 300. 

Landshut, Frederick's Forces at, 476. 

Lake House, Meeting of Frederick and Wilhel- 
mina at the, 158. 

Leipe, Skirmish at, 250. 

Leipsic, Frederick seizes, 404. 

Leitmeritz, Prussian Army rendezvoused at, 
418. 

Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, 243; at Schweid- 
nitz, 247 ; crosses the Neisse, 250 ; alienated 
from Frederick, 340 ; his Inventions, 345 ; 
Carlyle writes of, 369. 

Leopold, the Young Dessauer, takes Glogau, 
245 ; he commands at Chotusitz, 310. 

Letter of Baron Pollnitz, 25; of Frederick Wil- 
liam, 26 ; of Wilhelmina, 40 ; of Frederick 
William to his Son, 54 ; of Dubourgay, the 
British Minister at Berlin, 60, 62; of Wilhel- 
mina, 69 ; of the Crown Prince, 70, 75 ; of 
Wilhelmina, 81; of the Crown Prince to 
George II. of England, 84; of Carlyle,' 88 ; 
of Frederick William to Wilhelmina, 1 19 ; of 
the Crown Prince to Frederick Willi am, 127; 
of General Schulenburg, 128; of Frederick 
to Baron Grumkow, 138, 139, 140, 141; to 
Wilhelmina, 141, 142, 149, 156; of Count Al- 
garotti, 171 ; of Frederick to Voltaire, 173 ; 
of Voltaire in reply, 174; of Bielfeld (note), 
177; of Frederick to Voltaire, 178; of Baron 
Pollnitz, 1 79 ; of Frederick to Baron Suhm, 
181 ; to M. Maupertuis, 191 ; of the Danish 
Envoy, 197; of Frederick to Voltaire, 201, 
202; to M. Jordan, 204, 219; of M.Jordan, 
226; ofFredericktoVoltaire,227,242; toM. 
Jordan, 228, 252 ; to Wilhelmina, 252 ; of a 
Mollwitz Gentleman, 253; of an Austrian Of- 
ficer, 262; of Sir Thomas Robinson, 286; of 
Frederick to M. Jordan, 306, 312; of the 
young Sisters of Frederick to him, 322; of 
Frederick to Voltaire, 327; to Podewils, 347, 
348 ; of Field Marshal Keith, 377; of Freder- 
ick to D'Arget, 387; to Voltaire, 388; of the 



INDEX. 



581 



Prince of Prussia, Augustus William, to 
Frederick, 402 ; of Frederick in reply, 404 ; 
of Frederick to Lord Marischall, 416 ; to 
Wilhelmina, 419, 420; to Augustus William, 
423; to Wilhelmina, 425 ; of Wilhelmina to 
Voltaire, 426 ; of Frederick to Wilhelmina, 
427,432; of Wilhelmina to Frederick, 428, 
429 ; of the King of Prussia to his Brother 
Henry, 449 ; of the Prince of Prussia to Fred- 
erick, 451 ; to his Sister, 454 ; of Frederick 
to Voltaire, 469 ; of Marshal Daun, 470 ; of 
Sir Andrew Mitchel, 471 ; of Frederick to 
Lord Marischall, 472 ; to D'Argens, 474 ; of 
the French Minister in Paris to Marshal De 
Contades, 476 ; of Frederick to Voltaire, 478 ; 
to Count Finck, 480; to Colonel Fincken- 
stein, 485 ; to General Schmettau, 487 ; to 
Marquis D'Argens, 489, 506, 508, 510, 514 ; 
to Voltaire, 497, 499 ; to the Countess of 
Camas, 515, 517 ; of Charlotte Sophia, Meck- 
lenburg, 520 ; of Frederick to General Von 
Zastrow, 526 ; to D'Argens, 527, 530, 534 ; 
of D'Alembert, 540 ; of the Prince De Ligne 
to Stanislaus, King of Poland, 543 ; of Fred- 
erick to Marie- Antoine, 544 ; to Voltaire, 
550; to his Wife, 570. 

Leuthen, Battle of, 441 ; Napoleon I. on, 446. 

Leutomischel, General Daun at, 449. 

Liegnitz captured by General Schwerin, 228 ; 
Frederick visits the Army at, 366 ; he reach- 
es Liegnitz surrounded by Austrians, 504. 

Ligne, the Prince De, describes the Battle of 
Leuthen, 442. 

Linsenbarth, M. : his Adventures and Death, 
383,384. 

Lobositz, Battle of, 407. 

Loo, a beautiful Palace in Geldern, Eesidence 
of the Prince of Orange, 176. 

Louis XV. alienated from Frederick, 358. 

Loudon, General, an Austrian Officer, and his 
forces routed by Frederick, 504. 

Lowen, Frederick escapes across a Bridge at, 
258; his Breakfast at, 261. ■ 

Ludvvig, George, Count of Berg, Bishop of 
Liege, 207; his Efforts against Frederick, 
209. 

M. 

Macatjxat, Lord, describes Frederick William 
(note), 27; Note, 218; he writes of Freder- 
ick, 297; of Voltaire (note), 321. 

Magdeburg, troops rendezvoused at, 65. 

Magyar Warriors, the, swear fealty to the 
Queen of Austria, 288. 

Mahren, Review of Austrian troops at, 380. 

Manifesto of Frederick, 330. 

Map of Silesia, 217; illustrating the Mollwitz 
Campaign, 247; the battle of Mollwitz, 261 ; 
of the second Silesian Campaign, 294; illus- 
trating the Campaign in Moravia, 306; of 
the Battle of Chotusitz, 310; Battle of Ho- 



henfriedburg, 350 ; the Invasion of Saxony, 
405; Battle of Lobositz, 407; the Battle of 
Prague, 412; Battle of Kolin, 416; Cam- 
paign of Rossbach, 430 ; Battle of Rossbach, 
431; Leuthen Campaign, 438; Battle of 
Leuthen, 440; Siege of Olmutz, 450 ; Battle 
of Zorndorf, 459 ; Campaign of Hochkirch. 
464; Battle of Hochkirch, 467; Battle of 
Kunersdorf, 485 ; Battle of Maxen, 494 ; 
Battle of Liegnitz, 505 ; Battle of Torgau, 512. 

Maria Theresa, Queen of Austria, 215 ; scorn- 
ful Sentence in her Reply to Frederick's De- 
mand for Silesia, 222; Combinations against 
her, 271 ; she is crowned Queen of Hungary, 
274; she consents to compromise with Fred- 
erick, 275; her Anguish in view of Freder- 
ick's Terms, 285 ; her Address to the Hun- 
garian Parliament, 288 ; her Character, 316; 
her Determination, 323 ; her Energy and 
Manifesto, 340; her diplomatic Skill, 359, 
360; her resolute Plans, 365; she prepares 
for War, 398; her Energy, 408; she sends 
General Daun to the relief of Prague, 414; 
her moral and religious Character, 548 ; she 
sends Proposals of Peace to Frederick, 556; 
her constancy to the Memory of her Hus- 
band, 559 ; her Death, 559. 

Marriage of Frederick the Great proposed, 136, 
137. 

Marwitz, General, put under arrest for a Re- 
monstrance, 465. 

Maupertuis, M., a French Philosopher, 191 ; he 
witnesses the Battle of Mollwitz with keen 
suffering, 264 ; his bitter Quarrel with Vol- 
taire, 390; his last Hours and Death, 395. 

Maxen, General Finck worsted at the Battle of, 
493. 

Maximilian Joseph adheres to the Queen of 
Hungary, 344. 

Mirabeau writes of a Visit to Frederick, 565, 
566. 

Mittenwalde, the Castle of, the Crown Prince 
sent to, 97. 

Mitchel, Sir Andrew, writes of Frederick, 418. 

Mollwitz, General Neipperg at, 253 ; Battle at, 
256. 

Montbail, Madame, Governess of Frederick, 20. 

Montbijou, Festivities at, 95 ; the Palace of, as- 
signed to the Queen Mother, 197. 

Montholieu, Count, a French gentleman, friend 
of the Crown Prince, 103. 

Moore, Rev. Dr., mentions a remarkable feat 
concerning Frederick the Great, 566. 

Moravia to be wrested from Maria Theresa, 
298. 

Mosheim, Rev. Johan Lorenz, a distinguished 
Writer, 149. 

Moyland, Frederick ill at the Chateau of, 202. 

Muhlberg Hill, the Prussians storm and carry 
the Works on, 483. 



582 



INDEX. 



Miiller, M., the faithful Chaplain of Frederick 

William, 107, 110, 112. 
Myssen, the Old Dessauer marches to, 368. 

N. 

Neipperg, General, hastens to Neisse, 247; he 
retreats from Mollwitz, 262 ; his Account of 
an Interview with Frederick, 292 ; he breaks 
camp at Neisse, 293. 

Neisse, a small Town in Southern Silesia, 232; 
stormed by Prussia, 234 ; secretly re-enforced, 
240 ; Neipperg enters, 249 ; he intrenches 
himself, 265 ; Frederick invests and bom- 
bards, 293 ; collects his forces at, 348 ; final- 
ly abandoned by Austria, 471. 

Neustadt, Prussian Army at, 249. 

Neumarkt, Frederick seizes a bakery at, 438. 

Nicholas, Czar, a Prediction credited to him, 
546. 

Nicholstadt, Frederick at, 522. 

O. 

Oath of Allegiance exacted by Frederick from 
all his Subjects, 197. 

Ohlau, Frederick summons it to surrender, 230 ; 
Prussians retreat from Grottkau to, 251, 254. 

Olmutz, Austrian forces at, 347; Frederick be- 
fore, 449 ; he retreats from, 454. 

Oppeln, Incident at, 258 ; Frederick gains Pos- 
session of, 286. 

Oranienberg, Frederick William threatens his 
Queen with divorce and banishment to the 
Palace of, 73. 

Ottmachau, a Town on the Eiver Neisse, 231. 

P. 

Pallant, General, an Austrian Officer, reveals 
a French Plot, 314. 

Pandours, the, sadly annoy the Prussian Army, 
361. 

Paul, Czar, his second Marriage, 551. 

Peace, Reasons for not attaining it, 474 ; at 
length concluded, 534. 

Peasantry, Sufferings of the, 364. 

Philipsburg besieged, 155; it surrenders to the 
French, 161. 

Pilsnitz, a Palace in Breslau, 229. 

Pirna, Saxons concentrated at, 405 ; their Po- 
sition at, 406. 

Pitsch, M., Physician to Frederick William, 
188. 

Platen, General, attacks the retreating Russians, 
526. 

Poland, Frederick William visits, with the 
Crown Prince, 51 ; his Polish Majesty re- 
turns the Visit, 52 ; he intercedes for the 
Crown Prince, 112; his Alliance with Aus- 
tria, 340 ; Frederick's Treatment of the 
Queen of, 370 ; the King of, sues for Peace, 
371 ; the Queen tries to defend the Archives, 



405 ; the King appeals to France and Austria, 
406; Memorial of the King of, 503; Death of 
the King of, 541 ; its Partition proposed by 
Frederick, 543. 

Polluitz, M. , his Account of the Journey from 
Lithuania, 179. 

Pompadour, Duchess of, her Character and In- 
fluence, 399 ; her Letter to Maria Theresa, 
407 ; her Bitterness toward Frederick, 448. 

Poniatowski, Stanislaus, elected King of Po- 
land, 542. 

Posen, Eussians under Soltikof at, 478. 

Potsdam, the Palace of, 37; the Captain of 
the Grenadier Guard of, 42 ; Frederick re- 
turns to, from his first military Expedition, 
65 ; Marriage of Frederica Louisa at, 66 ; 
Frederick William and Sophie Dorothee re- 
turn from the Marriage of the Crown Prince 
to, 150; the King being ill, the Crown Prince 
visits him at, 1 64 ; Frederick William retires 
to die at, 183 ; its Palace sacked by Austrian 
Soldiers, 509. 

Prague surrenders to Prussia, 331 ; is abandon- 
ed, 336 ; the Battle of, 412 ; Siege of, 414. 

Pragmatic Sanction, 213. 

Pratorius, the Danish Minister writes, 220. 

Predestination, Frederick's Views respecting, 
110. 

Press, freedom of the, proclaimed in Berlin, 192. 

Presburg, Maria Theresa at, 284. 

Prince of Wales proposes for the Hand of Wil- 
helmina, 54. 

Prince Charles en route for Berlin, 366 ; goes 
to Dresden, 368 ; his culpable Delay at Dres- 
den, 370. 

Prince of Russia ; Frederick concerns himself 
in his matrimonial Schemes, 323. 

Protestantism, Frederick's Efforts in behalf of, 
243. 

Prussia, the Transfer of the Duchy of, 18; its 
Capital, 19. 

Prussian Kingdom, Extent and Resources of 
the, 188. 

Prussians, the, in distress, 253 ; retreat to Sile- 
sia, 336 ; their Losses (note), 339 ; they enter 
Saxonv, 405. 

Q. 

Qcantz, M. , Music - teacher of the Crown 
Prince, 66; his narrow Escape, 69. 

R. 

Racoule, Madame, a Governess of Frederick 
in his childhood, 30. 

Ranke, Professor, writes of the Cruelty of Fred- 
erick William to Frederick, 85. 

Rasfeld, M., Prussian Envoy at the Hague: 
Frederick writes him, 270. 

Reformation, the, of the sixteenth Century : its 
Influence in Prussia, 18. 

Reichenbach, Frederick sends Columns to, in 



INDEX. 



583 



order to save his Magazine at Schweidnitz, 
283. 

Reinsberg, Castle of, 152; Apartments of Eliz- 
abeth Christina at, 1 53 ; Visitors at, 172; its 
distance from Potsdam, 185 ; Frederick in- 
vites his sister to visit him — Wilhelmina re- 
pairs thither with the neglected Wife, 212. 

Ketzow, General, placed under Arrest for fail- 
ure in Battle, 465. 

Kitter, Doris : her unjust Accusation, 103; the 
cruel Punishment inflicted upon her, 104 ; 
Frederick's Meanness toward her, 193. 

Robinson, Sir Thomas, Earl of Grantham : his 
Interview with Frederick, 276, 277, 278; he 
returns with sad Tidings to the Court of Aus- 
tria, 284 ; his earnest Entreaty to the young 
Queen, 285. 

Rochow, Lieutenant Colonel, arrests the Flight 
of the Crown Prince, 89. 

Roloff, M. , a Clergyman of Frederick William's 
Court : his Faithfulness to the Monarch, 184. 

Romer, General, an Austrian Commander at 
Mollwitz, 256. 

Roth, General, commands Austrian forces at 
Neisse, 234 ; his pitiless Expedient, 235 ; 
commands the Fortress at Briinn, 304. 

Rothenburg, Count, leads Austrian Scouts near 
Mollwitz, 255. 

Ruppin, the Crown Prince commissioned Colo- 
nel Commandant at, 136 ; the dull Life of 
Frederick at, 145. 

Russia meditates joining a Coalition against 
Frederick, 298 ; with France, intervenes for 
Peace, 557. 

Russians, the, after Zorndorf — their Retreat, 
460; after the Surrender of Berlin, they flee 
to Poland, fearing Frederick, 509 ; they scat- 
ter near Hohenfriedburg, 524. 

S. 

Saldern, General, his moral heroism, 519. 

Salzdahlum, a ducal Palace in the Duchy of 
Brunswick, 149. 

Saxe, Chevalier De, General of Saxon Horse, 
announces the breaking of the Alliance be- 
tween Saxony and Prussia, 305. 

Saxon troops : Character of their Leaders, 302 ; 
their Sufferings in the Retreat from Moravia, 
305 ; their strong Position near Pirna, 406 ; 
besieged in their Encampment, 407 ; they 
surrender at discretion, 408. 

Schonbrunn, England sends Sir Thomas Robin- 
son to, 360. 

Schlettau, Frederick raises the Siege of Dresden 
and retires to, 503. 

Schlubhut hung by order of Frederick William, 
125. 

Schmettau, General, declines General Daun's 
Proposals, 472 ; he is unjustly degraded by 
Frederick the Great, 491. 



Schnellendorf : its Treaty disclosed — the Rea- 
sons for this Measure, 298. 

Schnellendorf, Little, secret Conclave proposed 
at, 289. 

Schulenburg, Field Marshal, Lieutenant General 
at Ciistrin : his Portraiture of Frederick, 128 ; 
his heroism, 256. 

Schwedt, the Marquis of, Frederick William, 
sues for the Hand of Wilhelmina, 74; his 
Rage at the failure of his Suit, 120. 

Schweidnitz, a fortified Town in Silesia, 238 ; 
its Fortress recaptured by the Austrians, 434 ; 
besieged and again captured by Frederick, 
533. 

Schwerin, General, he commands a Division 
against Liegnitz, 228 ; his Decision wins the 
Day at Mollwitz, 262 ; his Stratagem at Bres- 
lau, 282 ; he urges Frederick to attack Sax- 
ony, 403; his Death at Sterbohol Hill, 413. 

Seckendorf, Count, assists at the arrest of the 
Crown Prince, 90 ; appealed to by Frederick, 
92 ; he presents to Frederick William a Re- 
monstrance from Charles VI. in behalf of 
Fritz, 111; he counsels the King on the Mar- 
riage of Frederick, 148; he contrives to send 
Money to the Crown Prince, 154. 

Silesia, Territory of, 21 4 ; division of Feeling in, 
223 ; Frederick's Reasons for war with, 295 ; 
its Cost to Prussia, 534. 

Smirzitz, Incident at, 356. 

Sohr, Battle of, 362, 363. 

Soltikof, a Russian General : his Humanitv, 
481; he intrenches at Kunersdorf, 482; he 
writes on the Victoiy at Kunersdorf, 489. 

Sonsfeld, Madam, Governess of Wilhelmina, 
78; at the Ball, 95; her Care of Wilhelmina, 
98; Threats of Frederick William against 
her, 116. 

Sophie Dorothee, Daughter of George I. of En- 
gland: her Marriage with Frederick Wil- 
liam, 21 ; her Intrigues and Plans, 38, 39 ; 
her Love for her Son Frederick, 67; she re- 
ceives the King's Messengers, 72 ; she replies 
to Frederick William, 75 ; she scathes Grum- 
kow, 76 ; she becomes angry with Wilhelmi- 
na, 77 ; her Interview with Frederick Wil- 
liam, 97 ; her firm Resolve, 114 ; her Letters 
to Wilhelmina, 115, 119; a strange Mother. 
121; her Anger and Illness, 122; dislikes 
Wilhelmina's Marriage, 130, 131; her Ma- 
noeuvres, 145 ; her cool Treatment of her 
Daughter, 147; she ill treats Elizabeth Chris- 
tina, 150. 

Spanish Minister, the : his luxurious Ease, 267. 

Steinau, Frederick's Head-quarters at. 249 ; 
Neipperg encamps near, 283. 

Stille', Baron, describes the Scene at Chrudim. 
308, 309. 

Stolpen, General Daun retreats to the Strong- 
hold at, 464. 



584 



INDEX. 



Strasbourg, Frederick and Suite at, incognito, 
200. 

Strehlin, Envoys from various European Na- 
tions visit Frederick at his Encampment at, 
267 ; a Eeview of Prussian troops at, 282 ; 
Frederick's last grand Review, consuming 
four Days, at, 563. 

Sulzer, M., writes from Berlin, 488. 

Suhm, Baron Von, a constant Friend and Cor- 
respondent of Frederick, 166, 168. 

Sweden, the King of, intercedes for the Crown 
Prince, 112 ; declares war against Russia, 
284. 

T. 

Tobacco Parliament, 46 ; they discuss the Ques- 
tion of a Duel between Frederick William 
and George II. of England, 61 : the entrance 
of the Crown Prince disturbs the Sitting of 
the Members, 182. 

Tottleben, General, bombards Berlin, 509. 

Traun, Marshal, his military Ability, 334. 

Trebitsch, Frederick to concentrate his forces 
at, 300. 

Trench, Baron, Narrative by, 336 ; he describes 
the Hardships of the Prussian Guards, 379. 

Troppau occupied by Frederick, 298. 

Tulmier, M., persuades Wilbelmina to accede 
to her Father's wishes, 117. 

U. 

Ulejqtte, Princess, takes leave of the Prussian 
Court, 324. 

V. 

Valoei, M. De, French Embassador at Berlin, 
.272; he watches Frederick anxiously, 289; 
he is hoodwinked, 292 ; his Comment on 
Frederick, 351; the Prussian King ill treats 
him, 359. 

Vienna, Frederick suggests a Compromise to 
the Court of, 287 ; Alarm at, 288; not need 
less Terror in, 556. 

Villa, Rev. Dr. , sent to England to negotiate 
the double Marriages, 78. 

Voltaire, the French infidel Philosopher : the 
Influence of his Writings, 49 ; Note, 108 ; he 
compliments Frederick, 198 ; he counsels the 
Suppression of the Anti-Machiavel, 209 ; he 
announces the Victory of Mollwitz, 263 ; 
panegyrizes Frederick, 316; details Conver- 
sations with Frederick, 320, 321; describes 
Frederick's Life, 328; his Views on the Vic- 
tory at Kesselsdorf (note), 370; at the Ca- 
rousal, 385 ; enters into Speculation with a 
Jew, and what came of it, 387 ; quarrels with 
Maupertuis, and lampoons him, 391 ; de- 
scribes the Suppers at Sans Souci, 396 ; writes 
on the Battle of Rossbach, 432 ; on the Bat- 



tle of Leuthen,446; his mean Transactions, 
477; his Death, 557. 

W. 

Wagon Train, Description of, 452. 

Waldau, Colonel, one of the Jailers of the Crown 
Prince, 91. 

Wallis, Count, an Austrian Officer, 223 ; he de- 
fends Glogau, 244. 

War, Frederick William's Opinion of, 26 ; Prep- 
arations for, 65 ; Remarks upon, by Sherman, 
Wellington, and Napoleon I., 355 ; good Ob- 
jects sometimes attainable by, 355. 

Wartensleben, Field Marshal, Grandfather of 
Lieutenant Katte, 105. 

W T edell, General, his Defeat at Zullichau, 479. 

Weichau, a Silesian Town, 223. 

Weisenthal, the Camp of the Crown Prince at, 
160. 

Wesel, the Fortress of, Prison of Frederick, 
97. 

W T ilhelmina : her Birth, 21 ; her Love for Fritz, 
37; her Cousin proposes for her Hand, 52; 
prematurely saluted as Princess of Wales, 
81 ; describes a Ball, 95 ; abused by her Fa- 
ther, 98 ; imprisoned, 100 ; her Captivity, 
114,115; her deep Sorrows, 117; writes her 
Mother, 118; meets the Prince ofBaireuth, 
121; is betrothed, 122; her Marriage, 129 ; 
her Annoyances, 130 ; her Wedding-dress, 
131; the Wedding Ball, 132 ; gives her Opin- 
ion of Sophie Dorothee, 133; takes leave of 
her Father, 135 ; visits Berlin after Years, 
147; questions Frederick, 148 ; her Interview 
with Elizabeth Christina, 151 ; her Poverty, 
154 ; her Interview with Frederick, 158, 161 ; 
her Grief, 1 63 ; receives a Visit from her 
Brother, 199 ; she visits Berlin, 211 ; she de- 
scribes the Coronation of the Emperor of 
Germany, 301 ; again visits Berlin, 385 ; her 
Sickness and Death, 468. 

William Augustus, Crown Prince, younger 
Brother of Frederick the Great, 199 ; his 
Marriage, 296. 

Wilsdruf, Interview of Frederick the Great and 
the Old Dessauer at, 370. 

Wischau, Prussian troops at, 300. 

Wolfenbuttel, Mansion of, 149. 

Wusterhausen, the Palace of, described, 37. 

Z. 

Zimmerman, a Carpenter in Zulich : his cruel 
Death, 44. 

Zimmerman, Dr., prescribes in vain for Freder- 
ick the Great, 570, 571. 

Zittau, the Prince of Prussia defeated at, 421. 

Zorndorf, fierce Contests at, 457, 458, 463. 



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THE STUDENT'S HISTORIES. 

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Old Testament History. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

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THOMSON'S LAND AND THE BOOK. The Land and the Book ; or, Biblical Illus- 
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